Australia Receives Negative Impression For Diverting Refugees To Malaysia

From:  worldlynews.net

The Australian Government is drawing flak after its decision discourages refugees by diverting them to Malaysia instead of helping them settle in the country. The latest initiative against asylum-seekers was heavily criticized by both local and foreign observers, especially that Malaysia has a tarnished reputation in handling refugees in the past. Malaysia also refused to sign the United Nations Refugee Convention.

While Julia Gillard’s government is in a tight spot at home in handling waves of “boat people”, her announcement that the coming 800 asylum-seekers will be forwarded to Malaysia received so much flak from the international community. Actually, the refugees will be diverted to Malaysia first so the UN officials can process their claims. Unfortunately, there is already a long queue waiting in Malaysia, and the additional wave can only add to the frustration of each of them.

Gillard said that in exchange for the divert, Australia will accept around 4000 Burmese refugees in the next 4 years, who are currently waiting resettlement in Malaysia today.

Although the deal is being sold as a one-off, Malaysian High Commissioner to Australia said that his country will gladly do similar swaps in the coming years.

The announcement of Gillard regarding the planned diversion of asylum seekers happened after Australia news circulated in the country about Canberra’s negotiation with Papua New Guinea to open an immigration detention facility in the island of Manus. If this agreement will be successful, thousands of asylum-seekers will be processed there.

Although the number of would-be immigrants dropped significantly this year compared to the same period last year, many Australians still feel being “swamped” by refugees, which is a point the conservative opposition has been trying to lob against the current government.

Ms Gillard saw the deal with Malaysia would be a great blow to people smugglers who ship asylum-seekers to the country via Indonesia and Malaysia. Gillard’s view was also shared by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who said that the deal would benefit both countries, as Malaysia will cease being the transit point. The move expectedly received criticism from Amnesty International Australia’s refugee coordinator, Graham Thom, who said that Malaysia has always been tough on refugees and asylum seekers ever since. He said that country has the “harshest policies” towards these types of people.

Amnesty group revealed last year that detention centers in Malaysia are filthy, overcrowded, lacking in clean water and food, and refugees are getting insufficient healthcare.

In a similar report, UN refugee agency reported that detainees are more prone to arrests and other forms of abuse from Malaysian authorities.

Harvey has been writing for several years now on a wide range of topics. He writes about sport as well as contributes Australia news articles.