Malaysia’s chairmanship of ASEAN offers hope for mitigating the longstanding crisis in Myanmar, UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, Julie Bishop, said. In her address, during an ASEAN Plenary entitled “Even Stronger Together” at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2025 on Wednesday,

Southeast Asian foreign ministers hold a closed-doors retreat in Malaysia on Sunday, as the country hosts its first meeting as chair of the regional bloc ASEAN amid an intensifying civil war in Myanmar and confrontations in the South China Sea.

Malaysia has appointed a new ASEAN special envoy to Myanmar to try and implement the regional bloc’s stalled peace plan for the war-torn country.

The bloc says that any poll must be “inclusive,” but it has limited power to deter the junta from its election plans.

The regional bloc told a junta representative at a meeting that a poll is “not a priority at the moment," Malaysia’s foreign minister said.

ASEAN's fifth envoy to Myanmar, Tan Sri Othman Hashim, appointed during the bloc's meeting of foreign ministers.