Malaysians challenge 'dubious deal'
Hamish Macdonald ,May 15, 2011
THERE is a growing chorus of opposition in Malaysia over Australian plans to send 800 unwanted asylum seekers there. An unlikely coalition of senior justice officials, legal professionals, former diplomats and opposition politicians are questioning the legality of the deal to accept refugees from Australia.
Malaysia's main opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, is the latest to join the debate. He says "this is a dubious deal, the legality of which must be investigated" and plans to strenuously object to the proposal when parliament next sits.
"The whole issue is shrouded in secrecy. The track record of this [Malaysian] government shows that the legality of it just doesn't seem to matter," he said.
A former Malaysian High Commissioner, Dennis Ignatius, first raised the legal issues publicly. "There might be questions about the legality of this whole exercise under Malaysian law. Will their refugee status be recognised by the government?" he asked.
His comments are significant because they were published in the Star newspaper, which is owned by the second-largest party in the ruling coalition and is often reluctant to publish material critical of official policy.
The Malaysian Bar Council then articulated the problem further, explaining that beyond the fact that it hasn't signed the Geneva Refugee Convention, Malaysia does not legally recognise the concept of an asylum seeker. Even if refugees are processed by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and granted identification documents, the Malaysian government still considers them ''illegal''.
A spokesperson for the Australian Immigration Minister, Chris Bowen, said the details were still to be finalised, but it was hoped the agreement would be signed within weeks.
News of the new arrangements has reached some of the 93,000 refugees living in Malaysia. "There is no justice in the world" cried Faridah Fazal Ahmad. "I would rather they just come and kill me."
Faridah is a Rohingya refugee who fled Burma 20 years ago for Malaysia. Along with her four children, she shares a squalid room above an old shop with dozens of other refugee families in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.
Rohingyas are considered illegal under Malaysian law, meaning they are not allowed to work or inhabit a permanent home. They are regularly rounded up by authorities, kept in detention and occasionally beaten.
Three years ago Faridah's husband, Amin Hussein, paid a people smuggler $9000 to take him to Indonesia. Eventually he was put on a boat bound for Australia. Last year he arrived on Christmas Island, where he was kept in detention for eight months until his asylum claim was determined to be legitimate. He now has residency and lives in a room in Brisbane, with little more than a mattress and a smattering of English.
Faridah says this is her one reason to hope. She wants to move to Australia to be with her husband, but she knows if Amin had never taken the dangerous, illegal decision to get on the boat to Christmas Island that he too would be sitting in Malaysia.
Mr Bowen's spokesperson said Malaysia has undertaken to treat asylum seekers sent from Australia ''with dignity and respect and in accordance with human rights standards".
Hamish Macdonald is the senior foreign correspondent for 6.30 With George Negus, which screens week nights on Channel Ten.
