Migration & Borders
Min Aung Hlaing to visit Malaysia as returns start
Myanmar's Min Aung Hlaing is due to make a two-day visit to Malaysia from Wednesday, October 7, for talks including the return of Myanmar nationals, after nearly 1,500 returnees reached Myanmar from Malaysia on Sunday.
Malaysia's Foreign Affairs Ministry said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim would hold talks with Min Aung Hlaing on bilateral issues, including the “voluntary, dignified and safe repatriation” of Myanmar nationals of all ethnic groups who have been in Malaysia illegally. The ministry said the leaders were also expected to review ASEAN efforts on Myanmar.
Malaysia says about 5,000 Myanmar nationals have agreed to voluntary return. Authorities have not said the ethnicities of those already returned. Myanmar state media said Monday that nearly 10,000 migrants had been repatriated from Malaysia this year.
Anwar told Malaysia's parliament Tuesday that he and other senior officials would raise issues “towards a solution”. He said Myanmar had to guarantee proper treatment for its people so there was no abuse, oppression or human rights violation, while adding that Malaysia welcomed countries taking back their citizens.
The plan has drawn concern from the United Nations and rights groups, which have warned that Rohingya refugees could be among those returned. Malaysia hosts more than 215,000 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UN refugee agency, including more than 126,000 Rohingya from Myanmar.
The UN refugee agency said last week that its staff had not been allowed to meet the migrants to confirm whether their decisions to return were genuinely free and informed. UN rights chief Volker Turk said last week that “this is no time to return anyone forcibly to a country plagued by egregious human rights violations and abuses”.
Myanmar has pledged “safe and dignified” returns for its citizens displaced abroad. Rights advocates fear Rohingya could face abuses in Myanmar, where they are denied full citizenship. Rights advocates view Min Aung Hlaing as a leading architect of a 2017 crackdown against the Rohingya that is being weighed by the International Court of Justice as potential genocide.
Min Aung Hlaing ousted Aung San Suu Kyi's elected government in February 2021, and Myanmar has since been in civil war. Monitor ACLED says the conflict has killed more than 100,000 people. ASEAN has excluded Myanmar's top leaders from its summits since the coup over a lack of engagement with its plan to end the conflict, but Malaysia would be the fifth ASEAN country to welcome Min Aung Hlaing since he took up the presidency, after Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia.
Update ·
Malaysia's Foreign Affairs Ministry said Min Aung Hlaing will make a two-day visit starting Wednesday.
The ministry said Anwar Ibrahim and Min Aung Hlaing will discuss bilateral issues, including the voluntary, dignified and safe repatriation of Myanmar nationals of all ethnic groups who have been in Malaysia illegally.
The ministry said the leaders are also expected to review ASEAN efforts on Myanmar.
Source note: AFP news report published on 6 October 2026 at 10:22:00 UTC.
Update ·
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Min Aung Hlaing will visit Malaysia in the next few days.
Anwar said Malaysian ministers would raise issues toward a solution during the visit.
Myanmar state media said nearly 10,000 migrants have been repatriated from Malaysia this year.
The visit would make Malaysia the fifth ASEAN member to welcome Min Aung Hlaing since he took up the presidency.
Source note: AFP news report published on 6 October 2026 at 05:59:05 UTC.
Update ·
AFP journalists saw returnees taken by bus to a Buddhist monastery hall for immigration and health checks after the navy ships docked.
Returnee Kyaw Swar Thein said he had worked in a coffee shop in Malaysia, was arrested there, spent one year and eight months in detention, suffered scabies and had not yet met his family.
A woman said she was looking for her 19-year-old brother, who was arrested in Malaysia soon after arriving three months earlier.
A relative of one migrant said the main concern was that his arrival would not be safe.
Source note: AFP news report published on 4 October 2026 at 05:44:25 UTC.
Update ·
A naval official said returnees would be taken to different locations in the Yangon region where relatives could meet them later.
Returnees were transported out of the base on Yangon city buses.
Relatives described concerns about locating family members and possible conscription after return.
Source note: AFP news report published on 4 October 2026 at 03:42:12 UTC.
Update ·
A Myanmar Navy official said three ships carrying Myanmar migrants had all docked at the Myanmar Navy base in Thanlyin just before 7:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Source note: AFP news report published on 4 October 2026 at 01:10:35 UTC.
Update ·
Nearly 1,500 Myanmar migrants sent back from Malaysia were due to arrive in Myanmar on Sunday.
Families gathered outside the Myanmar Navy base in Thanlyin to collect relatives.
A Myanmar Navy officer told AFP a ship carrying migrants was due around 7:00 a.m. local time.
The Myanmar government said three Myanmar Navy ships left Malaysia on Tuesday carrying 1,476 migrants.
Malaysian media reported the group included 27 children, 79 women and 1,370 adult men.
UNHCR said its staff were not allowed to meet returnees to assess whether their decisions were free and informed.
Malaysia is moving ahead with plans to return a second group of more than 3,500 migrants.
Source note: AFP news report published on 4 October 2026 at 00:22:31 UTC.
Update ·
UNHCR voiced concern as Malaysia began sending Myanmar nationals back.
UNHCR spokesman Matthew Saltmarsh said conditions in Myanmar do not permit safe, dignified and sustainable returns.
Saltmarsh warned that international law bars sending people to places where they may face persecution, torture, serious harm or threats to life, liberty and security.
Source note: AFP news report published on 29 September 2026 at 09:55:31 UTC.
Uncertainty notes
Malaysian authorities have not commented on the ethnicities of those who have returned.
The UN refugee agency said its staff had not been allowed to meet the migrants to confirm whether their decisions to return were genuinely free and informed.
It is unclear from the supplied information whether any Rohingya were among the nearly 1,500 returnees who reached Myanmar on Sunday.
Source
AFP news report published on .