6.
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ATTITUDE OF SOUTH EAST ASIAN COUNTRIES TOWARDS INDO-CHINESE REFUGEES
1. The Malaysians were initially hospitable to refugees, who were
received in camps where the UNHCR was given access to them. 75,000
are now there. But out of 48,000 arrivals in 1979, less than 22,000
have been resettled outside the country.
2. But the Malaysians do not contemplate permanent resettlement
for any of the refugees. They claim to have spent already the
equivalent of £6.5 million on their welfare.
3. Opinion has hardened against the refugees. The Malaysians
acknowledge having towed away from their shores in 1979 267 boats
carrying 40,000 people. The boats are alleged to have been
replenished before being sent on. Many of the boats will have gone
to Indonesia. Discussions between Malaysia and Indonesia are in
progress aimed at enabling joint naval patrols to be maintained in
future, to see off newcomers but the Malaysians are critical of
alleged Indonesian incompetence and failure to grasp the magnitude
of the problem.
4 -
The Malaysians have no current intention of expelling refugees
from the permanent camps in their country, but they are adopting a
harsher policy towards all refugees, and the Malaysian Prime Minister
has spoken of the need to "send them out" if they are not accepted
elsewhere for resettlement with a reasonable time-frame. (See postscrip
5. The Indonesians have stated that they will not accept any
further Vietnamese refugees (although we believe they will do so, if
boats would sink if pushed out to sea again). Otherwise their
naval vessels "see off" refugee boats. As many of the refugees are
of Chinese ethnic origin, the Indonesians, who recall the role of
/their
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