After the World War II ,
147 countries signed a convention under the name of The United Nations
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (UNCRSR). This agreement is
designed to ensure the basic human values of persons in distress and to prevent
refugees from being involuntarily returned to the country from which they fled,
or expelled to another country where they may face persecution.
Australia is one of most
generous countries that signed the agreement and has helped more than 700,000
refugees and people in humanitarian need. Australia has helped people mostly
from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iran and Iraq, and use Malaysia or Indonesia as a
transit point on the way to Australia.
As
Malaysia is known to be flooded with illegal immigrants (Refugees – from the
Australia’s point of view) , the county has made an agreement with Malaysia
whereby 4000 refugees will be moved from Malaysia and resettled in Australia
over the next four years. In return, Australia will send 800 refugees to
Malaysia where their refugee claims will be assessed. If they are found to be
refugees, they will await resettlement in another country. The Australian
government said that they will pay the full cost of the swap deal - including
transport, welfare, health and education, estimated around $300,000 Australian
dollars.
When
one read through this information, one would think that it’s kind of a win-win
situation. Malaysia is a country where there are too many illegal immigrants
all over. When we think about it, sending 4000 of them to another country would
be beneficial and could ease our country’s burden. Also, we will only have to
accept 800 of them – which is a small number compared to the 4000 immigrants
that we will send.
However,
this agreement is not agreed by many parties. The Australian High Court ruled that
refugees should only be sent to countries that had signed the UNCRSR. Human
Rights Watch also immediately criticized the deal, noting that Malaysia isn't a
participant to the UNCRSR (The Wall Street Journal, 2011). Refugee activists
also warned that refugees faced caning and other rights abuses in Malaysia if
they break the local laws.
All
of the opposition parties stated that if Malaysia wanted to continue the
agreement, Malaysia would have to sign the agreement. This is rather absurd because
it would mean that Malaysia would have to treat refugees better than its own
people.
ABC Radio Australia (2011) cited that
the Malaysia's Foreign Minister stated that
"We have to provide employment, we have to provide them education,
we have to provide them minimum wage - and now only this last month that we
have introduced this minimum wage [in Malaysia]."
Therefore,
Malaysia is not really obliged to sign the agreement. Malaysia does not have to
provide the illegal immigrants (Refugees – from the Australia’s point of view)
of education, jobs, healthcare and many others. Furthermore, Malaysia does not
have to protect them from being imprisoned whenever they commit any illegal
wrongdoings. Whoever committed any wrong doings in Malaysia, whether a citizen
or a refugee or an illegal immigrant, will be judged and should not be
protected from the law.
Other
than that, rather than aiding illegal immigrants with education, jobs,
healthcare and many others, wouldn't it be better if Malaysia aids its citizen
first? This is a question for all opposing sides to ponder on, and for the
Malaysian government to decide.
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