Tag: Chris Bowen

Asylum Seekers “at risk of persecution in Malaysia”


The High Court of Australia heard some damaging statements about Malaysia today:

See this article:

THE Gillard government‘s “Malaysian Solution” has been thrown into disarray after being ruled unlawful by the High Court.

The judgment of the full bench, handed down to a packed courtroom in Canberra, found Immigration Minister Chris Bowen‘s declaration of Malaysia as a country to which asylum-seekers could be sent for processing was “invalid”.

Chief Justice Robert French said the court ordered Mr Bowen and his department be restrained from sending asylum-seekers to Malaysia.

“The declaration made … was made without power and is invalid,” Justice French said.

Lawyers for 41 asylum-seekers were granted a temporary injunction over three weeks ago after appealing against their forced transfer to Kuala Lumpur from Christmas Island.

They were the first group of asylum-seekers to be moved to Malaysia after the government formally signed the new deal in July, which will see 800 boatpeople sent to the country in return for Australia accepting 4000 confirmed refugees from Malaysia.

          Debbie Mortimer SC, acting for the group, argued the government’s policy was not lawful because Malaysia was not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and therefore did not provide enough legal protection.

She previously told the High Court in a two-day hearing the plaintiffs were at risk of persecution in Malaysia due to their religious beliefs.

Ms Mortimer also questioned whether Mr Bowen had the power under the law he relied upon to forcibly remove people to another country.

“Fundamental rights are at stake . . . liberty, freedom of movement . . . and freedom from assault,” she said.

“The proposed conduct of the commonwealth intervenes with all three of these rights.”

Ms Mortimer also claimed Mr Bowen would breach his role as guardian by sending unaccompanied minors to Malaysia.

But Commonwealth Solicitor-General Stephen Gageler SC, acting for Mr Bowen, argued Malaysia needed only to guarantee it would not send refugees back home to fulfil protection obligations.

He previously told the court that although Malaysia was not a signatory on UN human rights conventions, “the Malaysian authorities generally co-operate with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees”.

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Malaysia On Hold – High Court asked to review


What Chris Bowen and Julia Gillard refused to consider, will now be looked at by the High Court of Australia. The Malaysian Solution for the asylum seeker issue was never a satisfactory one, principally because Malaysia treats refugees and asylum seekers badly and Malaysia has a poor human rights record generally. Maybe in selecting a partnership with Malaysia, Australia is betraying its true colours in matters of human rights and it has always only paid lip service on such matters.

Following is an extract from The Australian today:

Mr Manne made it clear that Malaysia’s human rights record, and particularly its treatment of refugees, would be put on trial.

“Amongst the claims that are being made among many of those that we are acting for are that they in fact would face the real risk of being persecuted in Malaysia due to the human rights situation there,” he said.

“Malaysia has a long standing record of very serious mistreatment of asylum-seekers and refugees including, as we know, arbitrary arrest, arbitrary detention, beatings, whippings, canings and even deportation. A number of our clients have made very strong claims of fearing that they would not be protected in Malaysia.”

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Gillard and Bowen dealing with Ogres and Thieves from Malaysia


The deal being negotiated between Australia and Malaysia to process asylum seekers, is of considerable current interest. Last night we caught parts of the SBS Dateline program, with a story titled “Welcome to Malaysia”.

It really brought back very interesting memories.

For a start, we are reminded of how bloody minded ordinary Malaysians entrusted with a little bit of authority, can turn out to be. RELA officers decked out in military styled uniform are given free rein to terrorise ordinary man on the street. They’d pound on the door of citizens in the middle of the night, demanding to see your passport. They’d make you squat on walkways before hauling truckloads back to their headquarters for a long night of abuse.

In my past life, I have sat in the office of a police chief and hear him say to his subordinates “let them die”, referring to suspects being rounded up for anything you can imagine. Anyone who is an easy target – drug addicts, petty criminals and illegal immigrants – are easy game to these officers, be they police of militia personnel like RELA thugs. They’d detain, extort, abuse and exert their puny warden mentality to its full extent.

The drug addicts, petty criminals and illegal immigrants are not human beings in the eyes of these twerps. To these cowards and bullies, the drug addicts, petty criminals and illegal immigrants are vermin with money to steal from. If they are female, sexual crimes commonly follow. I have seen RELA personnel rounding these people up like they are herds of cattle.

Theresa recoiled when scenes of food being served came up. The illegal immigrants, squatting in the barb wired compounds, are served dirty rice and slivers of meats caked with grime, on trays which have never been washed. A detainee held up a tray to the camera and scraped off filthy grime and said the food was foul and stank.

The man tasked with looking after the illegal immigrant issue knew absolutely nothing. He looked and sounded exactly like your typical UMNO idiot who managed to become a deputy minister because those who appointed him are equally stupid. People like them abuse the ordinary people, steal from them, caused the most horrendous hardship on so many without batting an eyelid and then go to the mosque to pray and complain about opposition politicians committing sexual indiscretions.

The story on SBS Dateline certainly brought back memories, and reminded me why we left Malaysia. What that program showed was only a tip of the iceberg and it affected not just the less fortunate people. The mentality, attitude and value system of the powers that be cause unfortunate effect which was different to what the program showed, only in its degree and intensity. Why on earth is Julia Gillard and Chris Bowen even talking to this mob?

View the program here: http://www.sbs.com.au/dateline/story/about/id/601146/n/Welcome-to-Malaysia

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