Min Aung Hlaing’s visit: Diplomacy for the powerful, silence for the rest

There is a flaw in the argument used to defend Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's decision to receive Myanmar's military-backed leader Min Aung Hlaing with full diplomatic honours.

Kamil Abdul Munim, Anwar's political secretary, said we should not confuse dialogue with recognition or endorsement. He has a point.

Governments sometimes have to talk to people they strongly disagree with. Diplomacy would be impossible if countries spoke only to “friendly” nations.

However, Kamil's (below) own examples raise a troubling question: Does the principle that “engagement is not endorsement” apply equally to the powerful and the powerless?

I have some personal experience with that question.

In 2013, I wrote about the different treatment of two Malaysians with controversial political histories: Chin Peng and Siti Aishah Abdul Wahab.

Chin Peng's ashes were barred from entering Malaysia, including for burial at his parents' tomb.

Siti Aishah, a Malaysian who became a Maoist while studying in Britain, had been offered the possibility of returning to Malaysia, including the restoration of her passport and financial assistance.

I questioned this apparent difference in treatment. I was not endorsing communism or campaigning for Chin Peng. I was merely asking a question.

The response was extraordinary.

The then inspector-general of police, Khalid Abu Bakar, publicly warned that my article was “highly seditious” and threatened to arrest me.

Kamil's broader defence of Min Aung Hlaing was revealing. He invoked the 1955 Baling Talks, when Tunku Abdul Rahman sat across the table from Chin Peng. His argument was that Tunku could talk to Chin Peng without recognising or endorsing the communist armed struggle.

That is true. But if talking to Chin Peng (below) was diplomacy, why was discussing him potentially seditious for an ordinary Malaysian?

This is not an argument against diplomacy. It is a question of consistency.

If governments can say, “We can talk to controversial people without endorsing them,” surely ordinary Malaysians should also be able to discuss controversial figures and history without being treated as though discussion itself amounts to endorsement.

Or does the rule change depending on who is doing the talking?

Price of speaking out

And who could forget Nuon Toeun?

She was a Cambodian domestic worker who had worked in Malaysia for about 15 years. After criticising former Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen and his government on social media, she was arrested and deported to Cambodia in September 2024 following a request for Malaysia's cooperation by Cambodian authorities.

She was subsequently detained in Phnom Penh and charged with incitement. Human Rights Watch condemned her deportation, describing it as part of Cambodia's wider pattern of transnational repression.

Anwar later told Al Jazeera that Malaysia could not “take the risk” because it could affect bilateral relations. Really?

What made her case particularly disturbing was her treatment upon arrival. Cambodian authorities circulated photographs of her in handcuffs and under armed escort outside the prison where she was detained.

Was she simply being prosecuted? Or was she being made an example of, as a warning to others?

The message conveyed by those images was difficult to miss.

It seemed to be this: if you are an ordinary Cambodian who dares to criticise a powerful political family, you may be hunted down.

So again, I ask: If talking to powerful governments is diplomacy, why is talking about those governments, or criticising their leaders, treated so differently when the person doing the talking is an ordinary citizen?

Beyond the airport fanfare

Which brings us to Myanmar.

On Oct 7, Min Aung Hlaing arrived in Malaysia to the usual fanfare at the airport, followed by a formal welcome at Perdana Putra, complete with a military guard of honour, before bilateral talks with Anwar.

Kamil calls this diplomacy. Anwar says engagement is necessary.

Malaysia wants to help bring Myanmar back into the Asean fold. Most Malaysians can understand that objective.

But Myanmar does not suddenly become a different, sanitised country simply because its military-backed leader has been given a new title.

The conflict that followed the 2021 military coup continues, and human rights organisations continue to document serious abuses. Yet Malaysia has been sending Myanmar nationals back despite warnings from the United Nations and rights groups about the dangers they could face.

Malaysia says the returns must be voluntary, safe, and dignified.

But safe for whom? Voluntary under what circumstances? What safeguards are in place once they return?

Anwar has said Malaysia will do “whatever is possible” to help Myanmar eventually return to the Asean fold. Malaysia and Myanmar have also agreed to strengthen cooperation in trade, investment, education, agri-food, energy, and healthcare.

Should we turn a blind eye to human rights abuses because we hope to benefit from Myanmar's untapped natural resources? None of these arrangements should be beyond scrutiny.

Who gets the privilege of dialogue?

Kamil says engagement does not mean endorsement.

Fine. Then what does the engagement achieve, and what price is Malaysia willing to pay for it?

If Malaysia can be pragmatic with a military-backed leader because dialogue may help resolve difficult regional problems, why was the same pragmatism not extended to an ordinary Malaysian writer discussing Chin Peng?

Why was it not extended to a Cambodian domestic worker who criticised her own government?

Why does the language of diplomacy seem so much more generous when the person on the other side of the table holds power?

Perhaps the real issue is not whether Malaysia talks to controversial people, but whether it applies the same rules to everyone.

Kamil is right about one thing: diplomacy requires talking to people we disagree with.

But diplomacy cannot become a privilege reserved for governments while ordinary people are expected to remain silent.

He should tell Putrajaya that.  - Mkini

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MARIAM MOKHTAR is a defender of the truth, the admiral-general of the Green Bean Army, and the president of the Perak Liberation Organisation (PLO). Find her on her website and on X.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.