KL mulls temporary stay for Acehnese<\/p>\n
Agencies, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Malaysia is reviewing plans to deport some 250 detained Acehnese
\nasylum seekers and may grant them temporary stay, Deputy Prime
\nMinister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Although it is not Malaysia's policy to protect asylum
\nseekers, Abdullah said the situation of the migrants from the
\nwar-torn Indonesian province of Aceh has to be given serious
\nconsideration.<\/p>\n
\"We are considering the possibility of giving them temporary
\nstay but this is still uncertain. It needs serious
\nconsideration,\" he told reporters after opening a two-day
\nSoutheast Asian agricultural ministerial meeting.<\/p>\n
\"We have to get a report from the police about the status of
\nthose who are arrested, who they are.\"<\/p>\n
Abdullah, who is also the home minister, was reported saying
\non Wednesday that Malaysia's stand on the Acehnese asylum seekers
\nwould be no different from that on other illegal immigrants, and
\nthey would be deported.<\/p>\n
The Acehnese, including women and children, were detained on
\nTuesday outside the United Nations High Commission for Refugees
\n(UNHCR) office in Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n
They are currently held in the Langkap detention center in
\nnorthern Perak state, which is opposite Aceh across the narrow
\nMalacca Strait.<\/p>\n
The UNHCR has expressed alarm at Malaysia's \"unprecedented
\naction.\"<\/p>\n
It urged the government to free the detainees and issue them
\ntemporary protection letters, saying refugees were not illegal
\nimmigrants under international law.<\/p>\n
\"We never send people to conflict areas,\" Abdullah said when
\nasked about the UNHCR's statement.<\/p>\n
He said Malaysia's policy has always been to deport all
\nillegal immigrants but noted it has also helped UNHCR send
\nrefugees to third countries for resettlement.<\/p>\n
The UNHCR has not made any formal request to the government to
\nfree the Aceh migrants but the UN body would be given access to
\nthem if it wanted, he added.<\/p>\n
The UN refugee body has suspended registering new applicants
\nat its Kuala Lumpur office because a heavy police presence is
\nscaring away potential asylum seekers, a senior official said on
\nThursday.<\/p>\n
Senior UN office Even Ruth said Malaysian police had been
\ndeployed outside the UNHCR for several hours each day since
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n
\"We cannot function when we have the police right outside our
\ndoor. We have suspended operations over the past few days and we
\nwill review our position daily, depending on the police action,\"
\nRuth told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n
The UN office accepts hundreds of applications for refugee
\nstatus from people who come to Malaysia -- one of Southeast Asia
\nwealthiest countries -- from poorer countries in the region,
\nincluding Myanmar, Indonesia and Cambodia.<\/p>\n
Thousands of people from Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam fled to
\nMalaysia to escape years of bloody separatist fighting at home
\nthat has killed about 12,000 over the past decade.<\/p>\n
Malaysia is also home to thousands of Rohinga Muslim minority
\nfrom military-ruled Myanmar who enter the country illegally to
\nescape persecution in their home country, also known as Burma.<\/p>\n
According to international law, people granted refugee status
\ncannot be deported against their will. Malaysia is not a
\nsignatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and does not
\nrecognize political refugees. However, the UN office said that
\nMalaysia is also bound by an international obligation not to
\ndeport immigrants to conflict regions even though it is not a
\nsignatory to the UN convention on refugees.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kl-mulls-temporary-stay-for-acehnese-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}