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Malaysia and Australia to continue to fight human trafficking

Friday, 02 September 2011 09:18am

©The Star (Used by permission)
By MARTIN CARVALHO

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will continue to work with Australia to find alternative ways of combating international human trafficking while respecting the Australian High Court’s decision blocking its government from going ahead with the refugee swap deal.

Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the court’s decision on Wednesday would not affect the good relations between the two countries and his ties with Australia’s Immigration and Citizenship Minister Chris Bowen.

“The law must be respected,” he said yesterday.

He said the July 25 agreement signed between Malaysia and Australia was done in good faith to tackle international human trafficking.

He was asked to comment on the Australian court’s decision blocking the swap deal which would have seen 800 asylum seekers in Australia sent here and 4,000 refugees in Malaysia sent to Australia.

The case was brought to the court by 16 asylum seekers who were to become the first to be flown to Malaysia from the Australian territory of Christmas Island.

The court ruled that they could not be sent to a country without adequate legal safeguards, and noted that Malaysia has not signed the United Nations’ convention on refugees and was not obliged under its domestic laws to protect their rights.

The court also held that the deal, which was to cover a four-year period, was not legally binding on the Australian government.

The court held invalid Bowen’s declaration that asylum seekers who entered Australia via Christmas Island could have their asylum claims processed while they are held in Malaysia.

Bowen confirmed he had spoken to Hishammuddin on the court’s ruling.

“He has indicated from his point of view this does not in any way diminish or affect the very warm working relationship between Australia and Malaysia,” he added.

Bowen cautioned that there could be a rush for Australian shores following the court’s ruling.

“I think you can expect people smugglers to be capitalising on this arrangement and to say that, ‘You can come to Australia now because the Malaysia agreement has been ruled invalid by the High Court’,” he said.

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