Source : The Malaysian Insider
James Chin is a Malaysian academic. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the views of institutions he is associated with. He can be contacted at Jameschin1@gmail.com
JULY 16 — Our neighbours Thailand are reportedly unhappy with us because our government did not manage to arrest former Thai prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, who apparently spent a night in Kuala Lumpur on America’s Independence Day (July 4) at a very posh hotel in KLCC .
According to the Thai embassy, their diplomats here alerted our authorities but we did not do anything and Thaksin flew out on his private jet to Fiji. The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) says he knows nothing and that the Thai diplomats here did not inform him or the police until after the event. The IGP further claimed that the Thai report was untrue.
Thaksin, a man who knows how to play the media, had this to say about his Malaysian stopover: “My private jet stopped for refuelling in Malaysia and they sent 20 Special Branch policemen to guard me. They love and care about me.” So who is telling the truth? No candy for the answer but it’s so obvious, isn’t it?
Thaksin, unfortunately, will not be the last of the infamous who have, at one time or another, used Malaysia as a transit, home or unofficial asylum.
Before we discuss this issue, the official line is that Malaysia has never given political asylum to anyone, and has no plan to change that policy. Malaysia only gives “temporary shelter” on humanitarian grounds. You see, Malaysia does not want political asylum to be used as an excuse by groups which want to enter Malaysia for economic gain.
Moreover, giving refugees political asylum would saddle the government with unnecessary problems like providing them with jobs, homes and protection. On top of this, the Malaysian government does not recognise the identity card issued to refugees by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Kuala Lumpur. And Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.
So as you can see, at the official level, the thousands of Myanmar refugees in Malaysia do not officially exist since we don’t recognise the UNHCR cards. See how easy it is to exploit them? Isn’t this country great? We practice human rights, Malaysian style!
But all this does not mean that nasty people do not come to Malaysia. In fact they come here on a regular basis because they know the government will almost never hand them over. The only exceptions are terrorists but even then, there are different classes of terrorists. Some we even end up giving MyKads.
Shall we look at some of these people? The most famous one is of course Zimbabwe’s dictator Robert Mugabe. He has good relations with former PM Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, and in fact his multi-million home in Harare has a piece of Malaysia — that is, some high quality timber worth a few hundred thousand ringgit was presented to this dictator as a “gift” from Malaysia.
Word has it that he comes to Malaysia often to take his holiday since he has been banned from all western countries. But we Malaysians are such hospitable people and we welcome him with open arms. He also owns a home here so maybe when the Zimbabwe people finally rise up against him, he can retire in comfort right here in Malaysia. Meanwhile his people starve and thousands die from cholera.
When Marcos was overthrown in the Philippines in the 1980s, one of his daughters moved to Malaysia, living openly in KL. In fact, I think they still own houses here and one of the younger Marcoses was a student here.
It did not matter that billions of dollars were stolen from the Philippines. But then again, the Filipinos are such forgiving people. Marcos’ son is now a congressman and wife Imelda is living it up in Manila. Until today, they have never been found guilty of corruption.
Our recent history also suggests that Filipinos are more than welcome. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was a well known fact that thousands of Moro separatists were living in Sabah while fighting Manila for an independent home state in the Mindanao region. Many of their descendents are now Malaysian “citizens” with blue MyKad.
How on earth did they get acquire one is subject of much debate. Many real Sabahans think some individuals in the highest level of the Malaysian government are involve in a project called “Project M”. Project M was to turn Sabah into a Muslim-majority state by “importing” Muslim Filipinos and Muslim Indonesians. It does not take a genius to know who the “M” refers to as the height of the project was in the 1980s. Today Sabah is a Muslim-majority state, so Malaysia Boleh!
The Moro “independent” fighters were not the only ones welcomed here. For years the Thais have accused the northern Malay states, in particular Kelantan, of being used as sanctuary for Thai Malay separatists. In fact a leading leader of the Pattani Liberation Movement was found to be a lecturer in the International Islamic University right here in Gombak, Kuala Lumpur. Of course he is now “missing” from IIU but we all know where he is.
For years the leaders of GAM or Free Aceh Movement operated quite openly in KL. GAM fought a guerrilla war against the Indonesian state for years until the tsunami. Several of them had Malaysian “red” IC or permanent residency. In fact one of its most senior leaders was assassinated here a few years ago. His killers were never found. Convenient, isn’t it? But don’t worry, most of them have packed up and gone home after the peace accords.
And before I forget, back in the early 1960s leaders of the Parti Rakyat Brunei found asylum in Miri and Limbang when their coup to get rid of the Brunei Sultan failed. Some of the leaders later moved to Indonesia.
During Suharto’s time, many of his opponents, especially Islamists who opposed him, also found sanctuary in Malaysia. Remember the mastermind of the Bali bombings? He operated a religious school in Johor. And he was not the only one. I am told some of them are still running around in Malaysia although they are keeping a low profile after the arrest of Mas Selamat.
In 2006, the Cambodia police chief (their version of the IGP) flew into Malaysia after he was accused of several murders in Cambodia, including several judges. He tried to apply for political asylum here, they laughed at him and he was quietly deported to a third country.
Just to round up, three of the hijackers in the 9/11 incident held one of their planning meetings in an apartment in Seri Kembangan. Maybe they liked the Mines Shopping Centre.
Today there are thousands of political refugees in Malaysia escaping from their homeland. Some are genuine, some are not. Some are using Malaysia as an R&R centre while planning really nasty stuff.
Like I said earlier, we welcome everyone to Malaysia. From African dictators to separatists, to Islamic terrorist. No wonder Malaysia is Truly Asia. Never mind that our official policy is to never grant political asylum. Like most government policies, what is on paper may be very different in real life.
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