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.

By Danial Azhar LANGKAWI, Malaysia (Reuters) -Southeast Asian nations told Myanmar's military government on Sunday its plan to hold an election amid an escalating civil war should not be its priority,

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.

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

ASEAN secretary-general Kao Kim Hourn said some of the foreign ministers on Jan. 19 also "called for the release of Madam Aung San Suu Kyi," the prominent pro-democracy figure who has been detained since the 2021 coup.