“In return for Malaysia taking the asylum seekers, Australia will resettle 4000 refugees, mostly Burmese. This resettlement - 1000 people to arrive annually for the next four years - will occur regardless of whether Australia sends 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia. The policy, significantly expanding offshore processing, was immediately condemned by refugee advocates and the Greens because of Malaysia’s record of mistreating its 90,000 refugees. A recent assessment by the United Nations refugee agency said refugees in Malaysia were vulnerable to arrest and ”may be subject to detention, prosecution, whipping and deportation”.”—
Malaysia treats refugees SO BADLY. you can’t work, study or anything as a refugee here. You will never be granted citizenship (I don’t know how those 800 seekers will be accepted here? Perhaps they’ll be allowed to live here with some papers - but will never be given citizenship?).
They have this crazy police force called ‘Rela/wan’ which is volunteer police - crazy patriots who sign up to be a VOLUNTEER for the police - they are given almost as many powers as the real police without any proper training or pay- and they have quotas of ‘illlegal people’ they have to catch per week. there are many cases of them catching UN documented refugees, ripping up their papers, and using their arrests to fill their quotas….
(I am working in a kitchen that feeds refugees and studying some at uni here in KL)
