Description: Malaysia’s Foreign Minister, Mohamad Hassan, would visit Myanmar’s capital and meet with the military junta leader, General Min Augn Hlaing to push a potential peace platform. Malaysia chairs the ASEAN, cooperation organization in the Asian confines from which Myanmar has been banned in 2022 for failing to uphold the organization’s standards and obligations. Hassan arrives only a day after the junta conducted an aerial attack in rebel-controlled territories killing up to 40 civilians. The junta claimed responsibility for the attack and accused the rebels of using civilians as a human shield. Hassan is expected to address the larger prospect of peace talks, the entry of humanitarian aid in the country and to establish a credible platform for inclusive dialogue between all stakeholders in the civil war. The elections scheduled for Dec this year which the military junta announced aren’t expected to be included in Hassan’s itinerary during the state visit.
Impact: Malaysia’s involvement in the Myanmar’s civil war represents a constructive initial step towards forming and establishing a potential peace platform for resolving the country’s raging civil war. Hassan’s outlined objectives would most probably be met with opposition from the junta which is aiming at consolidating its power and legitimizing its government through the elections, which have been renounced by Malaysia. Malaysia’s diplomatic campaign as a mediator would be impactful in case a potential platform for negotiations is established in the long – term. Currently the fractured landscape of countless rebel and militant groups in the country diminishes the peace prospects, however, Malaysia’s inclusion in the civil war is meaningful in the aspect of political cohesiveness and delivering an objective mediation between the warring parties.