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influx of refugees. Tan Sri Ghazali replied that countries who talked of human rights, if they meant what they said, would need to ensure there was not one refugee left unwanted anywhere in the region. For example, it would not be enough for the US Government, so long as they waved the human rights flag, to go on accepting just a few thousand a month. On the other hand, he well understood that the UK would be unable to take more than a few thousand altogether; but Canada, Australia and countries like Bolivia ought really to do a lot more. It was true the USA had taken a considerable number already but this was a drop in the ocean for such a country. Tan Sri Ghazali was, however, optimistic and thought Malaysia might well eventually receive sufficient pledges of resettlement places from other countries. If not, the time would come when even his own party would say that the Government was putting the country at risk by allowing so many refugees in. Mr Luard said he thought the Americans felt angry, understandably so, that they were virtually the only country making a sizable contribution to the problem of resettlement. One could perhaps imagine sufficient pledges being made to cover the refugees presently in Indo-China who needed resettlement but what, Mr Luard asked, about the one million or so of Chinese race still inside Vietnam who might also leave the country? Tan Sri Ghazali reckoned there were some 700,000 who might still wish to leave Vietnam. He said he had urged the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to speak to the Chinese Government about taking some of the refugees. Mr Luard said it would be ideal if China could take more but he doubted whether many would want to go there; most seemed to prefer to go to the USA. Tan Sri Ghazali said there was a relatively big group of pro-Chinese Vietnamese who would probably opt to go to China.
Mr Luard said he believed about 150,000 had already gone to China through the north of Vietnam but some were trying to get out again, especially through Hong Kong and Macao. Tan Sri Ghazali said it was just possible that some of the pro-Chinese Vietnamese, who had made their way to Malaysia, would gather in the jungles of Malaya. That would be a worrying matter. He repeated that there was a general misrepresentation and lack of understanding of Malaysia's position on the refugee question which needed to be corrected. Mr Murray said he was sure the British people understood that the refugees were presenting a real problem for the poorest areas of Malaysia and Thailand. ne thought, however, that most people thought the UNHCR was meeting the full cost.
7. Turning to the possibility of an island being made available as a processing centre for refugees arriving in the region Mr Luard asked whether the Malaysians had a particular island in mind. Tan Sri Ghazali replied that the Malaysians had had discussions on this matter with the Indonesians. All were prepared for this possibility and were already looking at areas in the region which might be suitable. The Indonesian representative at the recent UNHCR consultations clearly did not know about this when he said at the Conference that he liked the idea provided the island was not in the area of Indonesia. Tan Sri Ghazali added that the Indonesians would go along with the idea of an island in the region provided there was a pledge from the international community that no refugee would remain on the island after a specified period of time. When the Americans had earlier asked Tan Sri Ghazali whether there was a possibility of finding such an island, he said he told them that he required a firm resettlement pledge first.
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18.