MALAYSIA-AUSTRALIA SWAP DEAL TO GO ON DESPITE OBJECTIONS

PUTRAJAYA, June 18 (Bernama) -- The proposed asylum seeker swap deal between
Malaysia and Australia is set to go on, with discussions now also involving
representatives of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and
International Organisation for Migration.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said Friday that the deal,
despite objections from certain quarters, might be the start of a new way of
transnational crime solution, which people might want to adopt 50 years from
now.

"Business cannot be as usual. If Malaysia and Australia would like to think
outside the box and find the solution that nobody else has found, for all you
know, it may work," he told reporters after meeting an Australian delegation and
representatives of UNHCR and IOM at his office here.

In the proposed deal, Australia is to send 800 boat arrivals to Malaysia for
processing and accept 4,000 processed asylum seekers in return.

Asked whether an objection from an opposition leader in Australia would
affect the deal, Hishammuddin said it is the opposition's business to oppose.

"At the end of the day, it's for us to convince the majority of Australians
and Malaysians that we have no other interest but to find a solution to
this problem," he said.

Hishammuddin said the deal was not just about refugees and asylum seekers,
because if it were, it would be looked at from a different level of standards
and concerns.

He said the deal was about irregular migrants and it concerned human
trafficking and money laundering which may have links with "other movements".

-- BERNAMA