KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia is surprised by the response from Australia over the recent refugee crisis following the sinking of a boat near Christmas Island left as many as 100 people dead. In an interview with The Australian Online, Malaysia's High Commissioner Salman Ahmad said he was “surprised” by the opposition over their criticism of the Southeast Asian country's refugee policy. The coalition opposes Labor's Malaysian Solution for asylum-seekers because the country has not signed the UN refugee convention. “Even though it's not legally binding on us to be treating refugees because we're not a signatory (to the UN refugee convention), we have done the best we can," said Ahmad. “They know very well how we treat them when they come to our shores." He said the UN refugee agency operating in Malaysia attends to the needs of an estimated 96,000 refugees living in the country. It comes as Australia's Opposition lashed out at Malaysia over its treatment of refugees as talks with Kuala Lumpur continue over new refugee policies following the incident. Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey told Sky News that “the reason why Malaysia is being used is because it is a very harsh and unforgiving environment for human beings." Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said he had no problem with Malaysia or its government, but the opposition would not agree to process asylum-seekers there because it had not signed the UN refugee convention. “Malaysia has the arrangements they have in place as a sovereign country dealing with the issues as they see them and they have every right to do that," he said. “My argument is not with Malaysia. My argument is with the government that wants to abolish offshore processing protections in the Migration Act."
