KUALA LUMPUR, June 17, 2011 (AFP) - Malaysia said Friday that it will forge ahead with a controversial refugee swap deal with Australia that has drawn the ire of lawmakers in Canberra and human rights activists.
Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein insisted the deal was a way to discourage the increased smuggling of people from mainly impoverished and wartorn countries through Malaysia to Australia.
Under the deal, Australia would return 800 newly arrived boat people to Malaysia, where their claims for asylum will be processed. In return, Australia will resettle 4,000 registered refugees from Malaysia over the next four years.
“Australia and Malaysia would like to think outside the box and find a solution, which nobody else has done. For all you know, it may work,” Hishammuddin told reporters. “We may be embarking on something that people might want to adopt 50 years from now... Business cannot be as usual,” he added after meeting officials from Australia, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM).
Malaysian government leaders say the country has become a key transit point for smuggling gangs seeking to bring Sri Lankans, Pakistanis and others to Australia.
Hishammuddin said there was no timetable to finalise the deal.
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