The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Sunday called on the warring sides in member nation Myanmar to stop the fighting and told its representative to allow unhindered humanitarian access, host Malaysia’s foreign minister said.

“Malaysia wants to know what Myanmar has in mind,” Mohamad Hasan told a news conference after a ministerial retreat on the island of Langkawi.

Hasan said Myanmar – represented by a low-level official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after its military leaders were barred from formal ASEAN meetings – briefed the gathering about plans for a general election this year. But the bloc wants Myanmar’s government to ensure peace before any polls are held, he said.

“We said the election has to be inclusive. The election cannot be in isolation, it has to involve all stakeholders,” he said. “We told them the election is not our priority. Our priority is to stop the violence.”

Myanmar  has been in turmoil since early 2021 when its military overthrew the elected civilian government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering pro-democracy protests that morphed into a widening armed rebellion that has taken over swaths of the country.

Despite being battered on multiple fronts, its economy in tatters and dozens of political parties banned, the military government plans to hold an election this year, which critics have widely derided as a sham to keep the generals in power through proxies.

Malaysia, chair of the 10-member bloc this year, announced the appointment of former diplomat Othman Hashim as special envoy on the crisis in Myanmar, where the United Nations says humanitarian needs are at “alarming levels”, with nearly 20 million people – more than a third of the population – needing help.

Mohamad said Hashim would visit Myanmar “soon” to convince all sides in Myanmar to implement ASEAN’s five-point peace plan, which has made no progress since it was unveiled months after the coup.

Hasan said the meeting also discussed the likely implications of the second term of incoming US President Donald Trump on the region amid its rivalry with China.

He said the ministers raised concerns that competition between the two superpowers may increase regional tensions. He said ASEAN ministers stressed the urgency to bolster regional unity and make economic integration a top priority amid the global uncertainties.

Tensions in the South China Sea, one of the world’s vital shipping lanes with about $3 trillion of annual ship-borne trade, were also high on the agenda following violent confrontations in the waters last year.

Vietnam and Malaysia have also protested over the conduct of Chinese vessels in their exclusive economic zones, which Beijing says are operating lawfully in its waters.

China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea. But ASEAN members Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, along with Taiwan, have also overlapping claims.

China and ASEAN have committed to drafting a code of conduct for the South China Sea, but talks have moved at a snail’s pace.

Mohamad said the ministers welcomed progress so far, but “highlighted the need to continue the momentum to expedite the code of conduct”.

The foreign minister of the Philippines, a key United States ally, told the Reuters news agency on Saturday it was time to start negotiating thorny “milestone issues” for the code, including its scope, whether it can be legally binding and its effect on third-party states.

Hasan said the ministers called for accelerated negotiations between ASEAN and China on a code of conduct in the waterway. “We stressed that the South China Sea must remain peaceful and stable,” he said.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared in March 2014 while on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board.

Efforts to locate the wreckage of the Boeing 777 have sputtered over the years and hundreds of families of those on board remain haunted by the tragedy.

On Friday, Malaysia’s transport minister Anthony Loke said the cabinet approved in principle a $70m (£56m) deal with US-based marine exploration firm Ocean Infinity to find the aircraft.

Under a “no find, no fee” arrangement, Ocean Infinity will get paid only when the wreckage is found.

A 2018 search by Ocean Infinity under similar terms ended unsuccessfully after three months.

A multinational effort that cost $150m ended in 2017 after two years of scouring vast waters.

While the government has “in principle” accepted Ocean Infinity’s offer, Loke said negotiations over specific terms of the deal were still ongoing and would be finalised early next year.

The new search will cover a 15,000 sq km patch in the southern Indian Ocean, based on new data that Kuala Lumpur found to be “credible”, the minister said.

“We hope this time will be positive,” Loke said, adding that finding the wreckage would give closure to the families of those on board.

Relatives of passengers on MH370 welcomed the Malaysian government’s approval of a new search.

“I am so happy for the news… Feels like the best Christmas present ever,” Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of MH370 inflight supervisor Patrick Gomes, told the New Straits Times.

“This announcement stirs mixed emotions – hope, gratitude, and sorrow. After nearly 11 years, the uncertainty and pain of not having answers have been incredibly difficult for us,” Intan Maizura Othaman also told the papers. Her husband, Mohd Hazrin Mohamed Hasnan, was a member of the cabin crew.

Jiang Hui, whose mother was on the plane, told Reuters news agency the Malaysian government must have a “more open approach” to the search to allow more players to take part.

Flight MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur in the early hours of 8 March 2014. It lost communication with air traffic control less than an hour after take-off and radar showed that it deviated from its planned flight path.

Investigators generally agree that the plane crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean – though it is unclear as to why it happened.

Pieces of debris, believed to be from the plane, have washed up on shores of the Indian Ocean in the years after the disappearance.

A host of conspiracy theories have sprouted around the aircraft’s disappearance, from speculation that the pilot had deliberately brought down the plane to claims that it had been shot down by foreign military.

A 2018 investigation into the aircraft’s disappearance found that the plane’s controls were likely deliberately manipulated to take it off course, but drew no conclusions about who had been behind it.Investigators said at the time that “the answer can only be conclusive if the wreckage is found”.

More than 122,000 people have been forced out of their homes in northern Malaysia, while in southern Thailand, around 13,000 others have also been displaced.

There are fears the number could rise, as heavy rain and storm warnings remain in place.

Emergency services personnel have been deployed to help rescue stranded residents and shelters are being provided.

The flooding, which began earlier in the week, has seen thousands of residents evacuated in both nations.

Videos on social media and local news show cars and houses submerged, and people wading through waist-deep water.

One video, filmed in Thailand’s Sateng Nok district, showed rescuers carrying a baby out from a roof of a flooded home.

Flooding has impacted nearly 534,000 households in southern Thailand, disaster officials said, and two hospitals had to close to prevent floodwaters from damaging medical facilities.

Six provinces have declared a disaster due to the floods.

The government has designated 50 million baht ($1.7m; £1.3m) in flood relief for each province, with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra saying the goal is to “restore normalcy as quickly as possible”.

In Malaysia, the flooding is mostly concentrated on the north-eastern state of Kelantan, which borders Thailand.

There, the National Disaster Management Agency says the evacuees account for 63% of the total number.

One resident in the town of Pasir Puteh in Kelantan said her area had been flooded since Wednesday.

“The water has already reached my house corridor and is just two inches away from coming inside,” Zamrah Majid told AFP news agency.

Another resident of the same town said he and his family have been isolated by the floods.

“There’s no way in or out of for any vehicles to enter my neighbourhood,” Muhammad Zulkarnain told AFP.

Another eight states in Malaysia have also been affected.

So far, the number of those displaced surpasses that of 2014, which saw one of the worst floods in the country.

Provisions for disaster management have been sent to Terengganu and Kelantan State Governments, according to the prime minister’s office.

On Friday, he barred his cabinet members from going on leave so they can focus on the disaster.

The Malaysian Meteorological Department warned that heavy rains will continue until Sunday in some states, while its Thai counterpart warned that “very heavy rain” could continue through next week.

Both countries experience monsoon rains around this time of the year, and flooding isn’t uncommon.

In 2021, Malaysia faced some of its worse flooding in decades, which killed at least 14 people.

Ten years earlier, in 2011, widespread flooding across Thailand killed at least 500 people and damaged millions of homes.

Three people have also died, according to disaster officials.

There are fears the number could rise, as heavy rain and storm warnings remain in place.

Thousands of emergency services personnel have been deployed to help rescue people stranded and shelters are being provided.

Videos shows cars and houses submerged, and people wading through waist-deep water.

The flooding, which began earlier in the week, is mostly concentrated on the north-eastern state of Kelantan, which borders Thailand.

There, the National Disaster Management Agency says the evacuees count for 63% of the total number.

So far, the number of those displaced surpasses that of 2014, which saw one of the worst floods in the country.

The disaster agency has set up 679 emergency shelters for those affected.

Also affected are Terengganu, Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Perlis, Selangr, johor, Melaka and Perak.

Provisions for disaster management have been sent to Terengganu and Kelantan State Governments, according to the prime minister’s office.

On Friday, he barred his cabinet members from going on leave so they can focus on the disaster.

In neighbouring Thailand, six provinces have declared a disaster, and floods are affecting over 240,000 households, according to the Interior Ministry.

The army has been deployed to rescue people in need.Malaysia’s monsoon season begins in November, and flooding isn’t uncommon.In 2021, it faced some of its worse flooding in decades, which killed at least 14 people.