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Globe and Mail
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Globe and Mail
Rohingya militants joining the fight for Myanmar's Rakhine, putting refugees at risk
As rebel groups have advanced across Myanmar in the past 18 months, nowhere has the Southeast Asian country's military government lost more ground than in Rakhine state, a strip of land along its western coast, bordering Bangladesh. There, the 45,000-strong Arakan Army has seized control of much of northern Rakhine and now appears poised to take over the entire state, even as the junta has pummelled resistance-held towns and cities with airstrikes and tried to mobilize a former bitter enemy against the AA. Since at least last year, Rohingya militant groups have been fighting the AA, often alongside junta troops or allied militias, and have recently paused a years-long turf war to control refugee camps in Bangladesh in order to concentrate on the battle for Rakhine, according to a new report by the International Crisis Group (ICG). A predominantly Muslim ethnic group with a long history of oppression in Myanmar, the Rohingya were targeted by the military in what is now widely recognized as a genocidal campaign in 2016, which left tens of thousands dead and drove the majority of the remaining population into neighbouring Bangladesh, where they have lived in sprawling and increasingly chaotic camps ever since. While Myanmar's parallel National Unity Government – an umbrella group of various ethnic armed organizations and resistance forces – has condemned previous administrations' treatment of the Rohingya and called for their inclusion in a future federal democracy, the Arakan Army, which purports to represents the majority Rakhine ethnic group, has been accused of massacring Rohingya civilians and seeking to drive them out of the region. 'Over the past six months, Rohingya armed groups have paused their turf war in the camps in southern Bangladesh and stepped up recruitment of refugees, telling them the only way to return home is by fighting the Arakan Army,' said Thomas Kean, ICG senior consultant for Myanmar and Bangladesh based in Melbourne. 'Such an insurgency is very unlikely to succeed but could do immense damage on both sides of the border, and undermine any prospect for repatriation of the more than one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.' At the core of this is the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), an Islamist armed group whose attacks on Myanmar military posts in 2016 were used as justification for the subsequent genocide. Largely operating in exile ever since, ARSA has become the dominant force in Cox's Bazar, a sprawling camp on the Bangladesh border where the majority of Rohingya refugees live. Over the years, ARSA has fought Bangladeshi security forces and other armed groups for control of the camps and has been accused of murdering civilian leaders who challenge it. Representatives of both AA and ARSA did not respond to requests for comment. In the past, both groups have expressed support for a multi-ethnic Rakhine. The situation for Rohingya in Bangladesh has grown increasingly dire in recent years, with international funding already insufficient before U.S. President Donald Trump moved to slash most of his country's foreign aid spending. The increased desperation in Cox's Bazar has made recruitment easier for armed groups like ARSA, according to multiple reports by aid groups. Since last year, despite longstanding opposition to the Myanmar military, ARSA forces have fought alongside the junta against the AA in multiple operations, according to local media and online statements by ARSA representatives. Fighting between Rohingya armed groups and the AA, 'as well as the presence of Rohingya in regime-controlled militias,' has had a 'ruinous effect on communal relations,' the ICG report warns, and hate speech on social media is growing, echoing a situation around the 2016-2018 crackdown, when genocidal messages spread widely on Facebook and other platforms. Some 200,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine as a result of the fighting over the past year, according to ICG. Around 400,000 still live in territory controlled by the AA, and as the group becomes the dominant power in the region, it will be pivotal to any negotiations to allow refugees to return, something Bangladesh has long sought despite warnings from the United Nations and others that the situation in Myanmar is too unstable. Mr. Kean said that in order to reduce support for armed struggle among Rohingya refugees, AA 'needs to demonstrate to both Bangladesh and the Rohingya that it can govern Rakhine State in the interests of all communities.' 'Further conflict between Rohingya armed groups and the Arakan Army is in the interest of neither the Rohingya people, Bangladesh nor the Arakan Army,' the ICG report warns. 'Given the Arakan Army's military strength, armed struggle will not succeed in helping the Rohingya return to Rakhine State, and it could have devastating consequences, now that the Arakan Army in effect controls most of the areas where Rohingya remain and all the areas to which refugees would return.'
Malaysia Sun
03-06-2025
- Business
- Malaysia Sun
ASEAN's Missed Opportunity for Beleaguered Myanmar
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) once again failed Myanmar at the summit in Kuala Lumpur from 26 to 27 May 2025 with a "Peace Formula", when the country plunged into a bloody civil war with "revolutionary" armed ethnic groups. ASEAN is an intergovernmental organization of ten Southeast Asian countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Host Malaysia, as the current chairman of ASEAN, delivered a meaningless statement on Myanmar and offered no new approaches to dealing with the crisis in the country, which has been beleaguered by a military dictatorship since 2021. Instead of dusting off their hands, the summit offered a toothless Five-Point Consensus (5PC) as a road map for addressing Myanmar's tribulations. The ethnic rebels are more concerned with holding their ancestral territories and establishing regional autonomy under a constitutional government. None of the rebels has a military plan to capture Myanmar's capital. To topple the military regime in Naypyidaw and form a national democratic government, the rebel groups have placed the responsibility upon the National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow government in exile under the political inspiration of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The ousted leader is presently serving jail terms on charges of sedition. Myanmar's capital, Naypyidaw, is besieged by ethnic rebels who have taken two-thirds of the country from the military junta led by General Min Aung Hlaing, who has ruled Myanmar as the State Administration Council (SAC) Chairman since seizing power in the February 2021 coup d'etat. In July 2024, he wore presidential robes in July 2024. To the Myanmarese, the obsession with the failed peace plan is beyond frustrating. They simply can't help wondering why ASEAN leaders remain so delusional when it comes to this "consensus", which has delivered nothing for Myanmar. Since ASEAN adopted the 5PC in 2021, the junta has never honoured it. First and foremost, the consensus calls for the immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar. This step has never been implemented by the junta. Instead of ending military rule, the regime has rained bombs on its citizens and blocked essential supplies, including healthcare facilities, not to mention the continued atrocities like arson and massacres. Over the past four years, more than 6,000 civilians have been killed by the military, including children, prompting the UN early this year to say that the junta had ramped up its violence against civilians to a level that was unprecedented in the four years since the generals launched their coup. Rather than taking the junta's total disregard for its plan as a blatant insult, ASEAN's leadership doggedly clings to the 5PC as its "main reference to address the political crisis in Myanmar," writes Hpone Myat in anti-establishment news portal The Irrawaddy. The news organization Irrawaddy, named after a yawning river in Myanmar, operates in exile in a neighbouring country for the safety and security of its staff. Myanmar has become the most dangerous place for journalists after the recent sentencing of Than Htike Myint to five years in jail under Myanmar's Counter Terrorism Law on 3 April. The military was holding 55 journalists in detention in June 2024, according to a report by the International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL). ASEAN's continued faith in the 5PC in the face of the regime's repeated intransigence is incomprehensible. In the light of this, the people of Myanmar are not sure whether to praise the bloc for its "consistency" or feel sorry for its naivety in dealing with the most ruthless regime on earth. Apart from the statement, remarks from the bloc's current chair, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, were out of context and deliberately did not touch base as the military junta is sinking into a quicksand. In April, Anwar met with junta chief Hlaing in Bangkok and held virtual talks with Myanmar's National Unity Government (NUG) in exile. Malaysian Premier Anwar Ibrahim should not have appeased Min Aung Hlaing, believing in the illusions that the General would restore peace in the country, riddled with civil strife. After a call from the ASEAN meeting in April, Hlaing promised a ceasefire by the Myanmar armed forces, Tatmadaw, and the ethnic rebels. His junta even signed an MOU with some rebels, but that ceasefire was broken within days. Hlaing's air force continued to bomb civilian areas, causing immense suffering, pain, and agony for the villagers. At the summit, he (Anwar) described those talks as "significant", saying both sides were open to engagement while highlighting Gen Hlaing's supposed willingness to engage in peace efforts despite dubbing NUG as a "terrorist organization". In his opening remarks to the summit in Kuala Lumpur, Anwar said ASEAN had been able to "move the needle forward" in its efforts to achieve an eventual resolution to the Myanmar crisis, adding that the steps may be small and the bridge may be fragile, but "even a fragile bridge is better than a widening gulf." There is not even a "fragile bridge", given his dishonesty and insincerity. His willingness to engage in peace talks is merely fictional and a hollow promise; Myanmar's generals have historically never been known for sincerely engaging in peace efforts. They only engage or join dialogue as a pretext to ease external pressures. No such talks have ever borne fruit. Ask any ethnic armed resistance organization or opposition politician in Myanmar, and they will enlighten you as to how historically untrustworthy the previous generals and Min Aung Hlaing are, laments Hpone Myat. ASEAN members have univocally urged the regime in Naypyidaw to extend a temporary ceasefire and engage in peace talks with its rivals at the summit, but did not spell out a timeline. Instead, the ASEAN urged that negotiations were needed and that Malaysia's Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan would visit Naypyidaw in June regarding the mitigation of the crisis. Furthermore, the regional leaders' statement on an extended and expanded ceasefire in Myanmar can only be greeted with dismay. The leaders further called for "the sustained extension and nationwide expansion of the ceasefire in Myanmar," but the reality is the ceasefire has never existed on the ground, as the junta has consistently violated the truce from the very start, wrote The Irrawaddy. Instead of being unrealistic about the reality of present-day Myanmar, ASEAN should have adopted a serious resolution against the regime. Such moves would have put pressure on the junta by making it harder for it to survive, but also would have helped move the currently stalled resolution mechanism for Myanmar's crisis forward. To make that happen, the bloc must first drop its empty rhetoric and take meaningful steps, concludes Hpone Myat. Last week, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) raised concern over the deteriorating human rights situation and economic collapse in Myanmar, with violent military operations killing more civilians last year than in any year since the 2021 coup. The military operations have sparked an unfolding humanitarian crisis. "The country has endured an increasingly catastrophic human rights crisis marked by unabated violence and atrocities that have affected every single aspect of life," said Volker Trk, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. Myanmar's economy has lost USD 93.9 billion over the last four years, with inflation surging and the kyat (local currency) losing 40 per cent of its value. Over half the population now lives below the poverty line, facing food insecurity and soaring prices, which has worsened since the March 28 earthquake, according to the U.N. Possibly, ASEAN has lost all moral position to pressurise the military junta, since Justice for Myanmar accused 54 companies in Southeast Asian countries ASEAN of supplying the regime with funds, jet fuel and technology. "ASEAN's failure to address corporate complicity has allowed the [regime] to intensify its brutal campaign of terror that has killed thousands of civilians and displaced millions with total impunity," said Yadanar Maung, spokesperson of Justice for Myanmar, while calling on the leaders of ASEAN to end their support to the regime in Naypyidaw. First published in the Stratheia Policy Journal, Islamabad, Pakistan on 03 June 2025 Source: Pressenza
Malaysia Sun
03-06-2025
- Business
- Malaysia Sun
ASEANs Missed Opportunity for Beleaguered Myanmar
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) once again failed Myanmar at the summit in Kuala Lumpur from 26 to 27 May 2025 with a Peace Formula, when the country plunged into a bloody civil war with revolutionary armed ethnic groups. ASEAN is an intergovernmental organization of ten Southeast Asian countries: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Host Malaysia, as the current chairman of ASEAN, delivered a meaningless statement on Myanmar and offered no new approaches to dealing with the crisis in the country, which has been beleaguered by a military dictatorship since 2021. Instead of dusting off their hands, the summit offered a toothless Five-Point Consensus (5PC) as a road map for addressing Myanmars tribulations. The ethnic rebels are more concerned with holding their ancestral territories and establishing regional autonomy under a constitutional government. None of the rebels has a military plan to capture Myanmars capital. To topple the military regime in Naypyidaw and form a national democratic government, the rebel groups have placed the responsibility upon the National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow government in exile under the political inspiration of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The ousted leader is presently serving jail terms on charges of sedition. Myanmars capital, Naypyidaw, is besieged by ethnic rebels who have taken two-thirds of the country from the military junta led by General Min Aung Hlaing, who has ruled Myanmar as the State Administration Council (SAC) Chairman since seizing power in the February 2021 coup dtat. In July 2024, he wore presidential robes in July 2024. To the Myanmarese, the obsession with the failed peace plan is beyond frustrating. They simply cant help wondering why ASEAN leaders remain so delusional when it comes to this consensus, which has delivered nothing for Myanmar. Since ASEAN adopted the 5PC in 2021, the junta has never honoured it. First and foremost, the consensus calls for the immediate cessation of violence in Myanmar. This step has never been implemented by the junta. Instead of ending military rule, the regime has rained bombs on its citizens and blocked essential supplies, including healthcare facilities, not to mention the continued atrocities like arson and massacres. Over the past four years, more than 6,000 civilians have been killed by the military, including children, prompting the UN early this year to say that the junta had ramped up its violence against civilians to a level that was unprecedented in the four years since the generals launched their coup. Rather than taking the juntas total disregard for its plan as a blatant insult, ASEANs leadership doggedly clings to the 5PC as its main reference to address the political crisis in Myanmar, writes Hpone Myat in anti-establishment news portal The Irrawaddy. The news organization Irrawaddy, named after a yawning river in Myanmar, operates in exile in a neighbouring country for the safety and security of its staff. Myanmar has become the most dangerous place for journalists after the recent sentencing of Than Htike Myint to five years in jail under Myanmars Counter Terrorism Law on 3 April. The military was holding 55 journalists in detention in June 2024, according to a report by the International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL). ASEANs continued faith in the 5PC in the face of the regimes repeated intransigence is incomprehensible. In the light of this, the people of Myanmar are not sure whether to praise the bloc for its consistency or feel sorry for its naivety in dealing with the most ruthless regime on earth. Apart from the statement, remarks from the blocs current chair, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, were out of context and deliberately did not touch base as the military junta is sinking into a quicksand. In April, Anwar met with junta chief Hlaing in Bangkok and held virtual talks with Myanmars National Unity Government (NUG) in exile. Malaysian Premier Anwar Ibrahim should not have appeased Min Aung Hlaing, believing in the illusions that the General would restore peace in the country, riddled with civil strife. After a call from the ASEAN meeting in April, Hlaing promised a ceasefire by the Myanmar armed forces, Tatmadaw, and the ethnic rebels. His junta even signed an MOU with some rebels, but that ceasefire was broken within days. Hlaings air force continued to bomb civilian areas, causing immense suffering, pain, and agony for the villagers. At the summit, he (Anwar) described those talks as significant, saying both sides were open to engagement while highlighting Gen Hlaings supposed willingness to engage in peace efforts despite dubbing NUG as a terrorist organization. In his opening remarks to the summit in Kuala Lumpur, Anwar said ASEAN had been able to move the needle forward in its efforts to achieve an eventual resolution to the Myanmar crisis, adding that the steps may be small and the bridge may be fragile, but even a fragile bridge is better than a widening gulf. There is not even a fragile bridge, given his dishonesty and insincerity. His willingness to engage in peace talks is merely fictional and a hollow promise; Myanmars generals have historically never been known for sincerely engaging in peace efforts. They only engage or join dialogue as a pretext to ease external pressures. No such talks have ever borne fruit. Ask any ethnic armed resistance organization or opposition politician in Myanmar, and they will enlighten you as to how historically untrustworthy the previous generals and Min Aung Hlaing are, laments Hpone Myat. ASEAN members have univocally urged the regime in Naypyidaw to extend a temporary ceasefire and engage in peace talks with its rivals at the summit, but did not spell out a timeline. Instead, the ASEAN urged that negotiations were needed and that Malaysias Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan would visit Naypyidaw in June regarding the mitigation of the crisis. Furthermore, the regional leaders statement on an extended and expanded ceasefire in Myanmar can only be greeted with dismay. The leaders further called for the sustained extension and nationwide expansion of the ceasefire in Myanmar, but the reality is the ceasefire has never existed on the ground, as the junta has consistently violated the truce from the very start, wrote The Irrawaddy. Instead of being unrealistic about the reality of present-day Myanmar, ASEAN should have adopted a serious resolution against the regime. Such moves would have put pressure on the junta by making it harder for it to survive, but also would have helped move the currently stalled resolution mechanism for Myanmars crisis forward. To make that happen, the bloc must first drop its empty rhetoric and take meaningful steps, concludes Hpone Myat. Last week, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) raised concern over the deteriorating human rights situation and economic collapse in Myanmar, with violent military operations killing more civilians last year than in any year since the 2021 coup. The military operations have sparked an unfolding humanitarian crisis. Over half the population now lives below the poverty line, facing food insecurity and soaring prices, which has worsened since the March 28 earthquake, according to the U.N. Possibly, ASEAN has lost all moral position to pressurise the military junta, since Justice for Myanmar accused 54 companies in Southeast Asian countries ASEAN of supplying the regime with funds, jet fuel and technology. Saleem Samad
Malay Mail
01-06-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
Malaysia's bold diplomacy on Myanmar: From chair to catalyst of Asean peace — Phar Kim Beng
JUNE 1 — As Chair of ASEAN 2025, Malaysia has taken a courageous and long-overdue step in addressing the most intractable humanitarian and strategic crisis in the region: the civil war in Myanmar. By inviting multiple conflict parties from Myanmar — including representatives from the National Unity Government (NUG), Ethnic Armed Organisations (EAOs), and potentially even interlocutors from the Tatmadaw — to Kuala Lumpur for informal dialogue, Malaysia is not only testing the limits of ASEAN diplomacy, but reshaping them. This is a move few dared to contemplate, let alone execute. Since the 2021 coup d'état by Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar has descended into a vortex of violence, repression, and fragmentation. The country is now a collapsed state in all but name. Over 3.5 million civilians have been displaced. Thousands have been killed, tortured, and imprisoned. Economically, the kyat has collapsed. Politically, the junta's planned elections — absurdly branded as a return to democracy — have no credibility domestically or abroad. Against this grim backdrop, Malaysia's offer of hosting informal consultations in Kuala Lumpur signals a subtle yet substantive shift: it reframes ASEAN's traditionally cautious diplomacy into a more daring, inclusive, and multi-stakeholder engagement strategy. From five-point consensus to 'Kuala Lumpur process'? Since the coup, ASEAN's formal approach has revolved around the Five-Point Consensus (5PC), agreed upon in Jakarta in April 2021. That document — calling for an immediate cessation of violence, inclusive dialogue, humanitarian access, and the appointment of a special envoy — has been flagrantly ignored by the junta. But rather than retreat in despair, Malaysia is innovating within ASEAN's diplomatic space. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's announcement at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on May 31 that Malaysia would convene informal dialogues in KL shows leadership where others have hesitated. Anwar's own past as a prisoner of conscience lends moral weight to his engagement with Myanmar's democratic opposition. Crucially, Malaysia is not excluding anyone. The door is open to all parties — whether armed, exiled, or militarised. This is a notable departure from the regional bloc's earlier focus on only engaging the junta in formal channels, or worse, remaining fixated on the illusion of 'non-interference.' Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (third from right) poses for a group photo with ASEAN leaders at the 46th ASEAN Summit at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. — Bernama pic The strategic logic of Malaysia's engagement Malaysia's approach is underpinned by three strategic logics. First, stability in Myanmar is inseparable from regional security. Conflict in Myanmar has spilled over into its neighbours. Thailand and India have faced refugee inflows. China has suffered attacks on its business interests in Myanmar's border regions. Bangladesh continues to shoulder the burden of Rohingya refugees, with over 1 million still stranded in Cox's Bazar. Malaysia hosts over 100,000 Rohingya and at least 200,000 Myanmar nationals more broadly. Peace in Myanmar is not a moral concern alone; it is a matter of national and regional interest. Second, Malaysia is filling a moral and diplomatic vacuum left by ASEAN. Despite rotating chairmanships, no ASEAN country has yet succeeded in bridging the chasm between the junta and its opponents. Indonesia made valiant efforts in 2023 but was constrained by consensus politics and its own transition of power. The Philippines, preparing for the 2026 chair, has taken a hardline pro-Western view that risks excluding dialogue. Malaysia, situated in the middle ground, offers a balanced yet firm moral position, emphasising democracy and human rights without provoking total rejection from Naypyidaw. Third, Malaysia is proving that ASEAN centrality does not mean ASEAN conformity. The KL dialogue initiative proves that ASEAN members can lead while still respecting the bloc's core principles. This is a lesson in creative diplomacy. Malaysia is not undermining ASEAN consensus but augmenting it with initiative, vision, and action. The convening power of Kuala Lumpur can help translate ASEAN's 5PC from paper to practice, one informal conversation at a time. A shift in diplomatic philosophy This effort marks an important pivot in Malaysia's diplomatic philosophy under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Unlike previous administrations that saw diplomacy in transactional or ceremonial terms, Anwar's foreign policy is anchored in what can be called principled pragmatism. It respects geopolitical realities — including the need to maintain dialogue with China, India, and the United States — but also champions the moral imperatives of justice, freedom, and peace. This is not without precedent. Malaysia under Tun Hussein Onn supported Cambodia's coalition government-in-exile in the 1980s. Under Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, it helped broker peace between the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Philippine government. Under Najib Razak, Malaysia was a signatory to the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro in 2012. What we are witnessing today is the continuation — and elevation — of that tradition. Challenges ahead That said, the risks are real. The junta may see Malaysia's initiative as a threat to its legitimacy. Other ASEAN states may resist turning the informal KL talks into an institutional process. Western donors, keen to isolate the junta entirely, may criticise Malaysia for appearing to 'engage all sides.' But these are manageable tensions. Malaysia has already made clear that the process is suggestive, not binding. The goal is not to supplant ASEAN's 5PC, but to supplement it. Indeed, the invitation to include all stakeholders can be seen as a faithful interpretation of the 5PC's call for 'inclusive dialogue.' What is most important is that the voices of the victims — the Rohingya, the displaced, the political prisoners, the ethnic minorities — are finally heard and empowered in a process where they are no longer objects of negotiation, but agents of peace. The way forward Looking ahead, Malaysia should take three further steps to consolidate this bold initiative: Institutionalise the KL dialogues as an annual track 1.5 platform under the auspices of a semi-official regional think tank. Expand participation to include Myanmar civil society, regional faith leaders, and international humanitarian organisations such as the ICRC and Médecins Sans Frontières. 3Propose to ASEAN a rotating 'Friends of Myanmar' caucus, similar to the Friends of the Mekong, that includes ASEAN members, the EU, and countries like Japan and Qatar — who have shown interest in mediation. Malaysia has turned ASEAN chairmanship from a ceremonial stewardship into a platform for real diplomacy. By inviting all parties in Myanmar's crisis for dialogue in Kuala Lumpur, it is showing what leadership looks like in a divided and disoriented region. There are no guarantees. But in diplomacy, boldness often counts more than certainty. If peace in Myanmar is ever to be achieved, it will be because someone dared to act while others remained spectators. Malaysia has just made that move. Let the dialogue in Kuala Lumpur be remembered not as a footnote, but as a foundation. * Phar Kim Beng is a professor of ASEAN Studies, International Islamic University Malaysia. * This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
New Straits Times
29-05-2025
- Business
- New Straits Times
Asean leaders fortify unity amid growing global challenges
KUALA LUMPUR: The 46th Asean Summit, under Malaysia's chairmanship, has reaffirmed the bloc's commitment to navigating an increasingly complex global landscape, championing unity, economic resilience and principled diplomacy. As the curtains closed on the summit, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim underscored the leaders' resolve to confront mounting geopolitical and economic pressures from the humanitarian crisis in Gaza to the intensifying strategic competition between global powers. Anwar emphasised that Asean must act with a collective voice, grounded in multilateralism and inclusive decision-making. Under Malaysia's chairmanship, one of the most notable institutional developments was the reaffirmation that Timor-Leste's accession to Asean is firmly on track, with full membership expected by October. In his closing press conference, Anwar reiterated Malaysia's strong support for Timor-Leste's integration, pledging that the bloc would do "whatever necessary" to facilitate the process under the Asean Foreign Ministers' framework. The summit also addressed the prolonged Myanmar crisis, with Asean leaders agreeing to push for an expanded nationwide ceasefire as a necessary precursor to inclusive political dialogue. Anwar, who recently engaged both Myanmar's junta chief Min Aung Hlaing and the opposition National Unity Government, said Asean remained a neutral platform for trust-building and eventual reconciliation. One of the summit highlights was the adoption of the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on Asean 2025 and Beyond, a long-term strategic framework aimed at reinforcing Asean centrality and enhancing the bloc's role on the global stage. The declaration envisions a more assertive and responsive Asean in addressing regional concerns like the South China Sea and the Myanmar conflict. Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research senior fellow Dr Azmi Hassan described the declaration as Malaysia's signal that Asean must evolve to stay relevant. "The two main strategies are to increase Asean's involvement globally and reinforce the centrality concept. "This includes staying neutral, especially in great power rivalries and trade conflicts, and being more proactive in shaping the global discourse," he said. While the KL Declaration outlines a 20-year vision, Azmi believes its key goals are achievable within the next three to four years, depending on the direction set by future Asean chairs. "Even as the Philippines takes over the chairmanship next year, Malaysia wants to remain in the pilot seat," he added. On the economic front, the summit produced a strong regional response to the United States' retaliatory tariffs, which target Asean exports with duties ranging from 10 to 49 per cent. Anwar made it clear that unilateral trade actions threatened global economic stability and undermined Asean's commitment to fair and open trade. He confirmed that the bloc would pursue engagement with Washington through diplomatic channels, favouring cooperation over confrontation. As such, any decisions made in regards to the tariffs should not be made to the detriment of other member countries. In a major diplomatic breakthrough, the summit also hosted the inaugural trilateral meeting between Asean, China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). This, in itself, was a coup of sorts, as Anwar described the gathering attended by Chinese Premier Li Qiang as a strategic milestone and a testament to Asean's growing convening power. This summit was apart from the Asean-GCC Summit, held for only the second time. Anwar said the spirit of Asean centrality remains critical to regional cooperation. The Asean-GCC-China Summit also saw a united call by Asean, China and the GCC for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. It condemned attacks on civilians and demanded full humanitarian access, including the restoration of essential services such as water, electricity, food, fuel and medicine. In his closing press conference, Anwar said the summit represented one of the most substantive milestones in Asean's history. He added that the summit had successfully achieved its objectives, attributing the outcome to the strong support and unity among Asean leaders, as well as the bloc's first meaningful simultaneous engagement with the GCC and China. He also said Malaysia's chairmanship would continue to focus on building a more inclusive, sustainable, and resilient Asean, in line with the bloc's long-term vision.
