At 04:30 GMT on Wednesday, 7 October, Min Aung Hlaing landed at Kuala Lumpur international airport. State media images showed his arrival, [Al Jazeera reported](<https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/7/myanmars-min-aung-hlaing-visits-malaysia-amid-concerns-over-repatriations>), drawing on AP and Reuters. Earlier that morning, according to Myanmar’s state broadcaster MRTV, he had taken off from the military airport in Naypyitaw. This is his first visit to Malaysia since the coup of 2021, the coup that put him in charge.
That coup started a civil war that has killed an estimated 100,000 people and driven more than 3.5 million from their homes. The general who led it now travels as a civilian. After a military-engineered election that drew wide criticism, the retired commander, who remains under Western sanctions, took a civilian title. Since formally becoming president in April he has visited Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, India, Russia and Belarus. Kuala Lumpur is the latest capital to receive him.
The election changed his title. The war goes on.
The price of an invitation
Malaysia has been open about why it invited him. [The Star reported](<https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2026/10/06/myanmar-president-min-aung-hlaing-to-visit-malaysia-oct-7-to-8-for-bilateral-talks>) that the official visit runs from 7 to 8 October and includes talks with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and a business dialogue with members of his cabinet. On Tuesday the government said the trip would let Anwar “sustain his direct engagement with Myanmar.” One of the main bilateral items is the “voluntary, dignified and safe repatriation of Myanmar nationals of all ethnic groups.” A spokeswoman for Min Aung Hlaing said repatriation would be on his agenda too.
Anwar laid out the terms in advance. Last month, speaking on a podcast, he said he would invite Min Aung Hlaing if Myanmar agreed to take back thousands of Rohingya. He then [told parliament](<https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2026/10/06/anwar-myanmar-junta-chief-min-aung-hlaing-to-visit-malaysia-in-next-few-days/237887>) that “the foreign minister, the home minister, and I will raise issues towards a solution.” He has defended the policy as diplomacy aimed at a long-term settlement, arguing that Malaysia cannot host refugees indefinitely and that Myanmar has to take responsibility for its own citizens.
Richard Horsey of the International Crisis Group described the deal more bluntly, [as Reuters reported](<https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-10-07/once-shunned-myanmars-military-backed-leader-set-for-malaysian-red-carpet>): “Under pressure to send refugees back, Anwar needs Naypyitaw’s cooperation, and a visit is the price.” Reuters described the trip as part of the general’s search for international legitimacy from neighbours that once avoided him.
Seen this way, the deal is simple. A ruler wants recognition, a government wants fewer people inside its borders, and each has something the other needs. The deportees have no say in it.
The people being sent back
The numbers are large. Anwar says Malaysia has deported about 10,000 Myanmar nationals since January, and that Myanmar has promised returnees will not be harmed. On top of that is a plan announced in July to return about 5,000 more, people Malaysia says have agreed to go “voluntarily.” Nearly 1,500 of them arrived in Myanmar on Sunday. Malaysian authorities have [not said which ethnic groups](<https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2026/10/06/myanmar-president-to-visit-malaysia-tomorrow-as-migrant-returns-draw-rights-groups-warnings/237968>) the returnees come from, and rights groups warn that Rohingya refugees may be among them.
Malaysia hosts about 215,600 refugees and asylum seekers registered with UNHCR, including about 126,000 Rohingya. Many of the Rohingya fled the military crackdown in Rakhine state in 2017, carried out by the army Min Aung Hlaing then commanded. Malaysia has not signed the UN Refugee Convention and treats refugees as undocumented migrants. Earlier this year, online hate speech and misinformation added to the pressure on undocumented migrants and refugees, and the Rohingya bore the worst of it.
The government keeps describing these returns as “voluntary.” The word is doing a lot of work for people who have no papers, no legal status and nowhere else to go, and who are being sent back to a country at war.
A warrant request and a state welcome
Before he arrived, [Human Rights Watch urged](<https://www.hrw.org/news/2026/10/06/malaysia-press-myanmar-junta-leader-to-end-abuses>) Anwar to press his guest to end human rights abuses. Elaine Pearson, the group’s Asia director, said that inviting him to coordinate the returns “is an invitation for further abuse.” The organisation also noted that the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has asked for a warrant for Min Aung Hlaing’s arrest over alleged crimes against humanity. The United Nations and rights groups have warned that people sent back could face serious danger while the civil war continues.
Malaysia frames the visit in the language of ASEAN. It cites the decision of the 48th ASEAN Summit in May to continue “constructive and principled engagement” with Myanmar, in line with the bloc’s Five-Point Consensus. Anwar has dealt with the general before. During Malaysia’s ASEAN chairmanship in 2025 he met him twice, when he was still a senior general. At the time those meetings were presented as ways of applying pressure. Now the general is a state guest.
By Wednesday the two men had not announced any agreement. Malaysia’s deportation programme was already under way before he landed.