NOTE: I am neither Malaysian nor Australian, but was shocked by even just the idea of the Malaysian Solution. If you feel like I have misunderstood Malaysian or Australian contexts, please do not hesitate to add your thoughts in the comments!
For those of you who don’t already know about the Malaysian Solution, it’s a plan between the Malaysian and Australian governments (under Najib Razak and Julia Gillard respectively) to have a sort of refugee swap deal. Under this “solution”, Australia will send 800 boatpeople to Malaysia in exchange for 4000 registered refugees from Malaysia. It’s a way for Australia to offload the large numbers of unprocessed asylum seekers that arrive on its shores, and for Malaysia to get rid of refugees. In terms of the numbers game, it seems like an okay idea.
Except that Malaysia hasn’t ratified the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which means that the rights of refugees aren’t guaranteed in Malaysia. It is not just possible, but also likely, that unregistered refugees will be treated as illegal immigrants, for whom the punishments can range from fines and prison time all the way up to mandatory caning. In fact, my friend Soon Chen has just written a piece for SEA Youth Say So on this very issue (related to yet another swap deal that Malaysia is trying to pursue with Burma). In the light of this fact, isn’t Australia just sending boatpeople to Malaysia to get ill-treated?
Naturally, this deal has met with opposition on both sides – activists in Malaysia and Australia think it’s horrible, even though the UNHCR appears to support the deal (for some strange reason). In fact, the Australian High Court has even ruled that the Malaysian Solution is illegal.
Image from The Age
With that ruling, many thought that the issue had been put to rest, but now both Najib and Gillard have revived their interest in pushing this deal through. Najib even wrote an article for the Sydney Morning Herald to justify the Malaysian Solution, which my friend Cindi was kind enough to share with me, knowing that I’m interested in this issue.
Unfortunately for him, the article is ridiculous, full of unrealistic altruism and self-praise. (Seriously, not that I want to bash Malaysia, but when I read the bit where Najib said that Malaysia is a “progressive, liberal nation” that leads SEA in “dealing with international problems” I almost snorted my water out my nose.) And in no way does it convince me that the deal is not just a way for two countries to lessen their problems with nary a thought for the little people they’re trampling on even as they claim to be helping.
Najib’s article claims that the Malaysian Solution is a way to deal with people smuggling and human trafficking, that it will “smash the business model of the people traffickers by telling potential migrants that spending their life savings and risking their lives to get to Australia would lead them only as far as Malaysia.”
But if Najib really does want to fight people smuggling and human trafficking, this seems like a strange way to go about it. After all, terrible though it may be, isn’t the smuggling of people to Australia mainly Australia’s problem? If Malaysia were really serious about stamping out people smuggling and trafficking, there is plenty for Najib to deal with right in his home turf – Filipinos girls are caught up in sex trafficking, migrant workers from countries like Bangladesh are exploited, abused and cheated, Rohingya refugees and migrants are being kidnapped and threatened, etc.
Why the sudden big heart to go help Australia out? (Maybe it’s because of the – to quote from Jessie J – “money, money, money…”)
Also, if the rights of the boatpeople cannot be guaranteed in Malaysia, it seems to me that the Malaysian Solution would simply be a form of legalised human trafficking anyway: money is involved, and people are moved with no regard for their right to self-determination.
Human trafficking and people smuggling are huge problems, and Najib is right about one thing: countries need to work together to deal with it. But are swap deals like the Malaysian Solution really a solution at all?
Image from Inkcinct
Refugees and asylum seekers do not resort to people smugglers or embark on perilous boat journeys just for weekend fun. They are escaping persecution and terrible abuses in their home countries, in search of a better life. They set off for Australia in the hopes that one day things will be better, and that they will at the very least be safe. But now, it seems, Australia would trade and swap them like chips in a casino, sending them to a country that – regardless of how “progressive” and “liberal” Najib claims it to be – simply does not recognise that refugees are any different from illegal immigrants.
It is a fine idea to want to stop people smugglers who cheat, hurt and exploit refugees and asylum seekers. But I fail to see how the Malaysian Solution really acts in the refugees’ interests at all.
thenakedlistener
October 28, 2011
I’m not hip to this Malaysian Solution thing, mainly because we get zero news coverage about it here in Hong Kong. On first impressions, it just doesn’t sound right, especially in the light that the Australian government as a matter of due diligence should have known (or should foresee) that Malaysia’s non-ratification of the UN convention would lead to problems down the road. If you and I could see this, I can’t help but wonder why the Australian government’s counsels can’t see it.
KJ
October 30, 2011
The Australian Government are trying to push this “solution” through as they think (perhaps correctly) that it will get them votes. They really don’t care a great deal about the welfare of the asylum seekers – hence the years long mandatory detention they are subjected to – they just what to win votes and tapping into many Australian’s xenophobia is the way they are trying to do it.
whatsaysyou
November 3, 2011
This whole Malaysian Solution thingie is a very bad idea and I cannot help but wonder what will happen to those unprocessed asylum seekers if they end up in a country that hasn’t ratified the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and therefore, their rights and safety in Malaysia are and will not be guaranteed. I hate to say it but Najib and Julia got everything wrong.
Kirsten
November 4, 2011
It is shocking to me that something like this will even be considered, much less heralded as a solution, when the rights will not even be guaranteed!
Kirsten
November 4, 2011
It is so unfortunate how easy it is to drum up xenophobic sentiments in any country and exploit it for political gains at the expense of the already disenfranchised.
whatsaysyou
November 9, 2011
If their rights will not be guaranteed, then they will be subjected to abuse and harassment so long as Malaysia has not ratify the UN policy in recognition of refugees and asylum seekers