Myanmar's coup leader-turned-president Min Aung Hlaing received a red-carpet welcome in Malaysia last week, the fifth member of ASEAN (the 11-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations) to host him since he became president in April after an election that major opposition parties were barred from contesting. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim pledged to help bring Myanmar back into the bloc, which has barred him from high-level meetings for ignoring its peace plan, while Min Aung Hlaing offered to ship home some of the roughly 193,000 Myanmar nationals in Malaysia, mostly Rohingya. Analysts warn the growing recognition, which also extends to China, India, Russia and even preliminary US talks, gives the military legitimacy it lacks at home and does little to end a civil war that has killed up to 100,000 people and displaced at least 3.5 million.