Walaupun ada usaha gagalkan pertukaran, Australia tetap terima 4,000 pelarian yang dihantar Malaysia

Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein - "Kita lakukan ini atas dasar kemanusiaan kerana tidak mahu sindiket pemerdagangan manusia mengambil kesempatan ke atas pelarian yang telah hilang segala-galanya. Kita tidak mahu pelarian ini teraniaya. Pendekatan ini adalah satu pendekatan baru dan berani oleh Malaysia dan Australia. Seluruh dunia sedang memerhatikannya. Jika kita berjaya, mungkin lebih banyak negara yang akan mengikuti langkah kita. Tujuannya mulia, atas sifat belas sesama manusia dan komitmen untuk memastikan sindiket pemerdagangan manusia diperangi sepenuhnya."

People smugglers warned over refugee-swap deal

2011/08/09

Read more: People smugglers warned over refugee-swap deal http://www.nst.com.my/articles/Peoplesmugglerswarnedoverrefugee-swapdeal/Article/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter#ixzz1UVCQoibe

MELBOURNE: Australia's Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has warned people-smugglers and would-be boatpeople against exploiting a High Court injunction halting the transfer of asylum-seekers to Malaysia.

Bowen Tuesday reaffirmed his confidence in the legality of the Malaysian deal, as the government pushes for a swift resolution to a legal challenge against the policy.

He warned a two-week injunction against asylum-seeker expulsions to Malaysia, granted Monday, was not the court's final word on the policy.

"People-smugglers and asylum-seekers should be clear that this is an interim injunction. It is not a result of a court case," he told ABC radio.

"Anybody contemplating coming to Australia on the basis of this injunction should not."

Justice Kenneth Hayne Monday put the government's Malaysian solution on hold when he extended an injunction preventing the deportation of asylum-seekers until their case is heard before the full bench of the High Court on Aug 22.

Bowen said the government was trying to convince the High Court to fast-track the matter so it would be dealt with before Aug 22.

The government says the Immigration Minister has the ability to use a section of the Migration Act to "declare" or identify a third country to which asylum-seekers can be sent.

Bowen told ABC Radio: "We had legal advice all the way through that this was legal. The Act is clear that a third country can be declared."

As the legal guardian of unaccompanied minors who arrive in Australia, Bowen said he was also confident the protections in the Malaysian agreement were adequate.

He warned it was not a sustainable outcome to extend an "automatic right of stay in Australia" to unaccompanied minors who arrived by boat.

"What is important is that we have all the appropriate care and protection in place as we deal with the complex issue of unaccompanied minors," he said.

Under the Malaysian solution, Australia will send 800 asylum-seekers to Malaysia in return for accepting 4,000 genuine refugees.

Despite Monday's injunction, Australia will accept the first of the 4,000 Malaysian refugees later this week.

During Monday's hearing, Justice Hayne expressed his frustration at the Commonwealth Solicitor-General Stephen Gageler SC, representing Bowen, saying his efforts in court were highly "unsatisfactory" and "half baked". -- BERNAMA

Assylum seekers - Malaysia has never asked for a single penny to feed the refugees...

Asylum seekers and boat people - the Malaysian way

by blogger BUJAI (Jailani Harun)

(Note: A good read. Interesting to see some of the comments. I've picked up some to be shared here at the bottom of this posting - tun)

Update: Eric Paulsen. the co-founder of Lawyers for Liberty, a human rights and law reforms organisation based in Malaysia says Malaysia is the worst place for refugees as they are being treated like 'shit' (read here)

Malaysia and Australia are expected to sign the 'asylum deal' tomorrow. Despite being a non-signatory to the United Nations' Refugee Convention, Malaysia has been very consistent with its boat people policy, treating them well and allowing them to work and live here although Australia and some developed nations deplore it bluntly.

Under the original proposal – which may by now have been updated during negotiations between the two governments and UNHCR – 800 asylum seekers who have arrived in Australia by boat would be exchanged with 4,000 of Malaysia's already processed refugees.

It needs to be remembered that the Malaysia deal is one part of a more comprehensive policy response to unauthorised boat arrivals that also includes maintaining development assistance in conflict-affected countries, capacity-building in transit countries, especially in South East Asia, and a raft of anti-smuggling measures.

The deal has been widely criticised but both governments deserves some credit. First, it is clearly taking seriously the increase in unauthorised boat arrivals in Australia over the last two years or so, and Malaysia's good record in protecting the refugees.

There is a separate debate to be had about whether what are still relatively small numbers of boat arrivals really merit such a dramatic response, but clearly their political significance outweighs their numerical significance, and both governments had to respond. They have responded within the law, and with the cover of UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees).

The arrival of a further 4,000 refugees would increase by about 50 per cent Australia's 2010 resettlement quota, taking it past Canada to be the second largest refugee resettlement country in the world.

However, critics - especially from some Western human rights organisations - are showing serious concern about the prospects for the 800 asylum seekers who will be exchanged.

As Malaysia is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and thus is not bound to respect principles such as 'non-refoulment' which guards against refugees being returned home against their will. UNHCR had earlier told Malaysia not to deport them to the country from which they fled.

Read more at -

http://justread-whatever.blogspot.com/2011/07/asylum-seekers-and-boat-people.html

Read also some good comments;

jimmy the tailor said...

tell me, which country gives better care to refugees apart from malaysia?

even australia is not so friendly to foreigners for its racism.

UNHCR should consider what malaysia has done in the past in dealing with refugees and asylum seekers. the country has helped a lot but has come under heavy criticism.

diplomat said...

Malaysia allows refugees registered with the UNHCR to live in the community, rather than detaining them as Australia does, but as families wait years for resettlement, their access to health services and community-run schools is limited by meagre incomes.

Illegal foreign workers in Malaysia are routinely rounded up by police, and it is this risk of arrest if refugees are caught working, or without identity documents, that has caused the greatest problems for its 95,000 asylum seekers.

The Malaysian government embarked this month on a program to fingerprint all 2 million legal foreign workers before an amnesty on August 1 for illegal workers. The biometric registration is designed to overcome the trading of blackmarket identity documents.

To counter accusations Australia has abrogated its responsibilities under the Refugee Convention, the federal government has promised millions of dollars to expand the UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration's operations in Malaysia, and has said it will fund the education, health and resettlement costs of the 800 ''transportees'', who will be clearly identified to Malaysian authorities.

How this will be done needs to be spelt out in today's bilateral agreement, which the Gillard government will publish, and two separate deals with the UNHCR and IOM.

let us hope the best for all.

jeremiah, brisbane said...

The comments by Mr Guterres mark the first time he has spoken publicly about the dilemma the Malaysia plan has created for the refugee agency.

While he did not go into detail on sticking points, the UNHCR has in the past expressed concern about the legal right to work for people to be sent from Australia, protection for unaccompanied children, and access to healthcare and education. It also insists that asylum seekers not be returned to their country of origin if this puts them in danger.

Mr Guterres's hesitation is a blow for the australian government, which has been working on a compromise with Malaysia and had been confident negotiations were being finalised. There are more than 300 asylum seekers sitting in limbo on Christmas Island who Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has said will be processed in another country.

i hope he comes to his senses.