By Tom Allard
ASYLUM seekers transferred to Malaysia from Australia will be housed in modest but comfortable accommodation and will have access to a tennis court at one facility, a vast improvement on the lot of most refugees in the country.
The higher-standard facilities, while perhaps satisfying worries in Australia about the conditions under which asylum seekers will be held, have raised concerns among refugee activists that the new arrivals will spark animosity among the 90,000-strong refugee community.
Those arriving under the Malaysia plan, if it survives the High Court challenge, will have the right to work and access to health and education facilities - conditions that other refugees in Malaysia do not have.
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''It will create resentment. They will have the UNHCR gold card,'' said Lia Syed, who works with Middle Eastern refugees in Malaysia.
''It will be a problem for people who have been stuck here for years and are not allowed to work but have been trying to make an honest living and have to work in horrible conditions without a permit.''
She speculated that the better conditions may result in people still taking boats to Australia.
The Herald visited one of the two facilities yesterday. It is ready for occupation, the lawns freshly mowed and the rooms tidy, with fresh linen on the beds and a large, well-stocked kitchen.
The converted three-star boarding house sits on the beachfront in the scrappy holiday area of Port Dickson, 90 minutes' drive from Kuala Lumpur.
There is a police station 100 metres up the road. A lone security officer guarded the facility behind a two-metre-high green fence topped discreetly with barbed wire.
Several kilometres down the road, a hotel was a hive of activity as workers made repairs to the main building and installed several air-conditioners and fixed up a tennis court.
Australian and Malaysian government officials moved in and out of the converted hotel, but declined to comment.
After being processed at the transit centres, which is expected to take less than two months, asylum seekers will be allowed to live in the community.
Together, both facilities would be unable to accommodate more than 100 people. As there are already 100 asylum seekers waiting to be sent to Malaysia, it is likely the two governments will have to find more transit centres.
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