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Monday 9 May 2011

Refugees To Be Brought To Malaysia

I really don't know what to say, because at the end of the day, it is true that Malaysia does treat its refugees very badly.

From The Independent:

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Australia's latest initiative to deter asylum-seekers by sending them to Malaysia was roundly condemned yesterday, with critics noting that Kuala Lumpur has refused to sign the United Nations Refugee Convention and has a record of mistreating refugees.

Under pressure to act tough on "boat people", the Prime Minister, Julia Gilllard, said at the weekend that the next 800 asylum-seekers to arrive in Australia would be taken to Malaysia, where they will join a long queue to have their claims processed by UN officials.

Ms Gillard said the new deal would be a major blow to people-smugglers who ship asylum-seekers to Australia via Malaysia and Indonesia. "The key message this will deliver to people-smugglers and those seeking to make the dangerous journey to Australia is: do not get on that boat," she said.

"Under this arrangement, if you arrive in Australian waters and are taken to Malaysia, you will go to the back of the queue."

But the plan was attacked by Amnesty International Australia's refugee co-ordinator, Graham Thom, who said: "If you're looking for a country in the region that has some of the harshest policies towards refugees and asylum-seekers, then you couldn't really go past Malaysia."

An Amnesty report last year said Malaysia's detention centres were filthy and overcrowded. "Detainees lack proper healthcare, sufficient food and clean drinking water," it said. "Children under 18 are held with adults, and abuse by detention staff is rife."

The UN refugee agency, meanwhile, says refugees in Malaysia are vulnerable to arrest, and "may be subject to detention, prosecution, whipping and deportation".

3 comments:

Joshua Lopez said...

You are touching on an issue which landed Irene Fernandez into ISA for years!

happle said...

Don't listen to these jealous people, BN. We have proven our capability since dealing with the Vietnamese boat people. If the Nazis had been around, they would have outsourced to us.

Crankster said...

Joshua Lopez - if an issue must be brought up, then it has to be brought up.

happle - it's called globalisation: cost of labour is high in Germany, so obviously the Nazis had to outsource it to Malaysia.