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Sunday May 3, 2009

Illegal migrants using Malaysia as a transit point


PM: Malaysia is transit point for illegal immigration

KUALA LUMPUR: Illegal immigrants tend to use Malaysia as a transit point to move to a third country, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.

The Prime Minister said Malaysia was not considered a destination for the illegal immigrants but they tend to use the country or Indonesia as a prime route to go to other countries.

Citing an example, Najib said the authorities recently detained a group of people from Afghan­istan who had entered the country illegally.

“Their actual destination was Australia. The Australian prime minister called me two weeks ago on this, expressing his appreciation for our cooperation in preventing these people from entering Australia as illegals,” he told reporters after launching the Workers Day celebration here yesterday.

In Johor Baru, MEERA VIJAYAN reports that an Austra­lian refugee advocate has offered to help a Pakistani teenager move to Australia where his remaining sibling lives.

Muhamad Aqeel Karkeen Quadir Hussein, 14, is the sole survivor in a boat tragedy in the waters off Pulau Lima in Pengerang which killed his mother Zainab Quadir, his two younger siblings, Sabika, 12, and Zulqarnain, 10, and three uncles on April 27.

His father Quadir Hussein Khan Mohamad was a university professor in Pakistan who died four years ago from cancer.

Muhamad Aqeel said his only surviving family member is his 22-year-old sister Misbah Quadir who is married and living in Australia for the past 18 months.

Australian refugee advocate Kaye Bernard, who contacted The Star, said she was lobbying the Australian Government to allow the boy to live in Australia on humanitarian grounds.

“If it is true the boy has a sister in Australia, she is his closest relative and would have guardianship rights over him,” she said.

Bernard said that Muhamad Aqeel may have rights under the Refugee Convention and that she had sent a letter to Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Steven Smith on May 1 on the matter.

She added that she had received a phone call from the ministry informing her that it would try and find the sister.

Although Muhamad Aqeel has maintained that the family was on a boating excursion, speculation was that they may have been refugees trying to make their way to Australia after entering Malaysia legally on April 14.

“Malaysia has been identified by Australian authorities as a transit point for immigrants to get to Australia, making the crossing by boat via Indonesia,” Bernard said.

Last month, Australia sent its senior national security adviser Duncan Lewis to Malaysia and Sri Lanka for talks to combat a surge in people smuggling.

Australian Immigration Department statistics showed that its detention centres were holding 258 people who entered the country by sea and and 65 others by air.

The figures, as of April 17, represent about 56% of the total detention population, with the top three refugee nationalities being from China, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency Southern Region Commander First Admiral Che Hassan Jusoh said 40 people from Afghanistan and Pakistan had been detained in Port Klang in recent months.

He said the agency was investigating the possibility that Port Klang and Pengerang in Johor awere being used as exit points to Batam by immigrants.

He said that here was an estimated 20 “hot exit zones” in Johor, Selangor, Malacca and Negri Sembilan used for smuggling activities and illegal entry and exit.

Federal Marine police commander Senior Asst Comm II Isa Munir said it was a challenge to keep track of foreigners, including those from Pakistan and Afghanistan, who entered the country illegally.

“The drowning tragedy in Pengerang has not been confirmed as a refugee case,” he said.

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