Regime Considering ‘Good Things’ for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Min Aung Hlaing Says

Myanmar’s coup leader-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing said his regime is considering “good things” for detained leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Thailand’s top diplomat said after a meeting with the former general on Wednesday.

Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow met Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw, becoming the first senior envoy from a member state of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to visit Min Aung Hlaing since the latter engineered his own rise to the presidency.

In a video message recorded before he returned to Thailand, Sihasak said he raised the issue of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during the meeting, and Min Aung Hlaing told him that she is being “well taken care of” and that his government “is considering good things”.

“Many ASEAN countries are worried about Aung San Suu Kyi and her well-being, and he said they are considering good things,” Sihasak said.

“This should be a good sign,” he added.

Min Aung Hlaing has not offered further details, however. Regime newspapers and television outlets reported on the meeting but made no reference to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The regime leader’s remarks followed the launch of a “Proof of Life” campaign online calling for evidence that the detained State Counselor is alive and in good health, and amid renewed diplomatic calls for her release.

The campaign urges supporters around the world to use social media channels to demand proof of her well-being and to call on their governments to press for verifiable evidence that she is still alive.

Since her arrest by the military following the coup on February 1, 2021, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been denied contact with the outside world. Concerns about her condition have grown due to the lack of reliable information, her son Kim Aris said.

The 80-year-old was given a 27-year prison sentence on multiple charges widely viewed as politically motivated. Her current place of detention remains undisclosed.

Her sentence was reduced by one-sixth last week as part of a broader amnesty that saw the release of thousands of prisoners, including her close aide, ousted President U Win Myint.

Min Aung Hlaing recently installed a new government following widely criticized polls in December and January and assumed the presidency to formalize his grip on power. Only a handful of regime allies have endorsed his pseudo “civilian” government.

He is pushing hard to break Myanmar’s isolation, using his new civilian title to press for re‑entry into ASEAN, even as the bloc continues to bar him from its summits for failing to honor its Five‑Point Consensus—including an immediate end to violence—agreed shortly after the 2021 coup.

In his inaugural speech, he pledged to restore “normal relations” with ASEAN.

Sihasak said Thailand supported Myanmar’s return to ASEAN through a “step‑by‑step” approach in line with the Five-Point Consensus.

“They’re trying to show that they’re moving towards a better direction,” Sihasak said in his video remarks after the meeting.

“These things are essential. Because ⁠we want ​them to return to ASEAN. We want to help them but we ​can’t help them if they cannot help themselves.”