For embattled Myanmar junta boss Min Aung Hlaing, receiving visiting dignitaries in the Credentials Hall of his Naypyitaw office offers a rare moment of pride.
Although his regime now controls less than half the country, hosting visitors in front of the gilded throne – Myanmar’s symbolic seat of power and sovereignty – allows him to project an image of leadership.
His moment of pride, however, was dashed early this month when, to Min Aung Hlaing’s embarrassment, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)’s special envoy to Myanmar, Othman Hashim, declined to meet him during an unpublicized visit to Naypyitaw.
The reason why he shunned the junta chief remains unknown.
Sources familiar with his visit said the Malaysian side wanted a low-key trip and requested no publicity.
The Irrawaddy learned that the envoy did however meet with junta Foreign Minister Than Swe in Naypyitaw.
Othman, a former Malaysian Foreign Ministry secretary-general, was appointed as ASEAN’s envoy to Myanmar in January when Malaysia assumed the bloc’s rotating chair for 2025. The envoy’s role is to mediate peace for Myanmar, which has been racked by a civil war sparked by the 2021 military coup.
Malaysia is one of the founding members of ASEA along with Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
Myanmar joined ASEAN in 1997 with the blessing of Malaysia’s then Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad.
Thailand and the Philippines had previously voiced doubts about Myanmar joining the bloc unless its internal situation at the time improved but dropped those reservations to advance regional unity. Myanmar was admitted after junta chief Snr Gen Than Shwe freed opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in 1995. Myanmar’s military regime at the time had caused a rift in relations with the West and disrupted plans to hold a summit meeting between European and Asian leaders. In 2016, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi became State Counsellor and led the country until the 2021 military coup, since when he has been imprisoned by the junta.
Following the coup, the regime has failed to honor any part of ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus for peace in Myanmar, leading to criticism the bloc is not pushing the peace plan hard enough. High-level junta officials are currently banned from ASEAN meetings.
Diplomatically isolated and desperate for legitimacy, the regime seizes every chance to capitalize on visits by foreign government representatives, promoting them in its propaganda newspapers and TV channels.
Last year’s ASEAN envoy, Alounkeo Kittikhoun of Laos, met both the junta boss and foreign minister during his visit in January 2024. Min Aung Hlaing also arranged for Alounkeo to hold talks with the seven ethnic signatories to the national ceasefire agreement (NCA) and political parties that had registered with the junta’s election body.
In contrast, the new envoy’s visit was ignored by regime-controlled media, probably at his request. The regime Foreign Ministry was also silent on Than Swe’s meeting with the foreign dignitary.
The media blackout prompted speculation the Malaysian envoy had been given a frosty reception in response to his nation’s previous tough stance on the junta.
After his trip, the envoy travelled to Bangkok for equally hush-hush talks with revolutionary groups including the parallel National Unity Government (NUG) and the K2C group comprising the Karen National Union, Chin National Front, and Karenni National Progressive Party.
But sources present at the Bangkok meeting said it focused on three points in ASEAN’s peace plan: cessation of violence, delivery of international humanitarian assistance, and inclusive dialogue. One meeting participant said the ASEAN envoy was more keen on initiating inclusive dialogue than on supporting the junta’s proposed election.
However, the envoy’s team expressed dismay over the leak, saying it had “broken the bond of trust” between the envoy and the revolutionary groups.
