Australia, Malaysia finalize deal involving Burmese refugees

Burmese refugees are part of a controversial swap deal signed this week between Australia and Malaysia.

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burmese refugees are part of a controversial swap deal signed this week between Australia and Malaysia.

According to international media reports, the deal, announced in May and signed in Kuala Lumpur this week, means Australia can send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia over the next four years. In return, Australia will take 4,000 bona fide mostly Burmese refugees from Malaysia.

The Australian government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard claims it has been struggling to stem the flow of asylum seekers into Australia. But the government is facing criticism from opposition parties over the agreement’s details and the cost of financing the deportations.

UPI reports that the vast majority of the asylum seekers in Australia arrive in unseaworthy boats after a perilous journey of thousands of miles and after paying human traffickers for their passage.

The Gillard government, as previous governments, is wrestling with an annual influx of thousands of boat people. Australia’s Department of Immigration said 134 boats carrying 6,535 people arrived in 2010. More than 1,000 boat people have arrived so far this year. Detention centers on the mainland and also the main center on Australia’s Christmas Island are full or nearly full, according to UPI.

Asylum seekers seeking a future in Australia won’t make shore. Under the so-called “Malaysia solution,” they could be sent to Kuala Lumpur after only 72 hours from the time they are picked up by Australian maritime authorities. The Canberra government said if would-be asylum seekers know they will be sent to Malaysia rather than be processed in Australia, they won’t try to make the journey, according to UPI.

“This will smash the people-smugglers’ business model,” Gillard said on Australian television.

Australia long has insisted the problem is a regional one that must have a regional solution, such as the deal with Malaysia.

Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott has criticized the agreement.

“This Malaysian deal is another betrayal by the prime minister,” he said, according to UPI. “She said adamantly that no boat people would be sent to countries that haven’t signed the U.N. refugee convention.”