Malaysian Gov't Walks Tightrope on Acehnese Asylum Seekers

RIGHTS-MALAYSIA:
Gov't Walks Tightrope on Acehnese Asylum Seekers
Baradan Kuppusamy - IPS 9/4/03

The Malaysian government is walking a tightrope on the fate of some 2,500 Acehnese asylum seekers in the country, as it tries to balance increasingly vocal demands to shelter them with pressure from Indonesia to deport them.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sep 5 (IPS) - The Malaysian government is walking a tightrope on the fate of some 2,500 Acehnese asylum seekers in the country, as it tries to balance increasingly vocal demands to shelter them with pressure from Indonesia to deport them.

These asylum seekers have been granted temporary protection letters by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), but remain slated for deportation by the government.

At the same time, pressure is mounting from the United Nations, U.S. representatives, academics and activists to avoid deporting the Acehnese who fled after the Indonesian military began on May 19 its offensive to quell the 27-year-old separatist rebellion in Aceh.

Indonesian officials were also reported to have asked Malaysia to send the Acehnese back to the country.

Last month, police arrested 232 Acehnese as they approached the UNHCR office here to seek protection. They are now being held at a detention camp in northern Malaysia, pending deportation by ship across the Straits of Malacca and back to Indonesia. The detained Acehnese include women and children.

"If deported they will be killed or imprisoned. The Indonesian military's human rights record in Aceh is appalling," said Dr P Ramasamy, who studies regional conflicts involving minorities at the National University of Malaysia.

"Malaysia should not bow to Indonesia pressure and refuse shelter to the Acehnese. We must help," he told IPS.

Officials had said 12 of the 232 Acehnese were deported last week after they agreed to leave voluntarily, but rights activists allege the 12 could have agreed because of duress.

A UNHCR official told IPS today that from May 19 up to now, 2,500 Acehnese applied for and have been given temporary protection letters by the UNHCR.

The police operation last month during which 232 Acehnese were arrested was put on hold following an international outcry. The remaining asylum seekers given the temporary letters are believed to have dispersed and are living in squatter settlements in and around the capital.

Although not arrested, the fate of all the Acehnese is in the balance, said the UNHCR official, noting that has been an upsurge in asylum seekers since the May offensive in Aceh.

"A high-level UNHCR delegation is flying in from Geneva on Wednesday to hold discussions with Malaysian officials. We hope to resolve the status of all the asylum seekers," said the official who declined to be named.

In a statement in Geneva on Thursday, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers, who is expected to head the delegation, said the planned deportation runs counter to "assurances" given by the Malaysian authorities.

He said the officials had agreed the asylum seekers "would not be returned to a situation which could endanger their lives and well-being''.

Lubbers said in the statement posted on the UNHCR website that they hoped the Malaysian government would observe a moratorium on deportations." We have been in telephone conversations with the authorities since earlier this week," he said.

Meanwhile, several U.S. representatives have added weight to these demands in a protest letter to Malaysian Ambassador in Washington Ghazzali Sheikh-Abdul-Khalid, saying that last week's deportation of the 12 Acehnese was "unacceptable" and runs counter to humanitarian values and laws.

"We urge that your government's authorities abide by international law and not forcibly return any more Acehnese to Aceh," they said.

Ramasamy said that Malaysia had "closed an eye" to the hundreds of Acehnese landing here after Aceh was put under martial rule in May, but that pressure from Indonesia had led to a change in policy.

He said Malaysia's position hardened immediately after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri met last month at their annual summit.

Mahathir said after the meeting that Acehnese fleeing here would be arrested and deported. "They are illegal immigrants and they came here to look for jobs," he said.

Malaysia is not a signatory of the U.N. convention on refugees and therefore says it is not legally bound to shelter the Acehnese.

As undocumented immigrants, Acehnese can be subjected to tough immigration laws that provide for five-year jail term, fine and whipping for entry without valid documents.

"The Acehnese, some of them flew in on commercial flights, were looking for jobs when arrested," said a foreign ministry official reached by IPS. "Some of them have relatives here and are well looked after... they are not refugees."

Malaysia also fears that because of the proximity of the troubled province - just five hours by slow boat across the Straits of Malacca - that Acehnese would swamp the country if the government recognises them as refugees.

While Malaysia maintains that it does not recognise refugees or asylum seekers, it has nevertheless selectively given shelter to peoples from troubled regions as diverse as Bosnia to Iraq, Palestine, Africa and the southern Philippines.

But inexplicably, it has dithered over sheltering Acehnese largely because of pressure from "big brother" Indonesia and the fear that the crisis would balloon.

The national human rights group Suaram rebuked the government for pursuing its "myopic" policy of lumping refugees as undocumented migrants, saying this worsens the refugees' suffering.

"Deporting them is like signing their death warrant," said Suaram coordinator Cynthia Gabriel. "Malaysia's continued disregard of humanitarian laws and shoddy treatment of asylum seekers is appalling."

She said it is not difficult to differentiate between economic migrants like Indonesian and Bangladeshi workers and Acehnese fleeing war and persecution.

Echoing similar sentiments, Ramasamy said the government can and must "safely house" Acehnese until the end of the military offensive in Aceh. "It is the only decent and proper thing to do," he said.

"The country is already flooded with migrant workers and we are still requesting for more workers from neighbouring countries, why just deny help for Acehnese?" Ramasamy said, urging the government not to bow to Indonesian pressure.

Observers said the government is likely to take a middle line -- deporting some Acehnese while quietly allowing others to stay here temporarily until the situation in Aceh improves.

U.N. officials estimate that over 10,000 people have died in the conflict in Aceh since 1976, most of them civilians. About 1,000 people have been killed, mostly civilians in the current military offensive, activists say, and 46,000 people internally displaced.