In 'Aussie chauvinism causes boatload of problems', (Sept 10) MGG Pillai lambasts Australia and its government for its stand on the 'refugees' in Tampa! If one were to view the whole episode for the view painted by Pillai, then of course Australia and her government might stand embarrassed by the episode.

However, I have had the benefit of listening in to some of the arguments, views, opinions and so on of people on both sides of the Tasman and I should say that what was shocking to me as a Malaysian was the number of callers to radio stations, who, because of their human values, called for the refugees to be helped as people who were genuinely in need of human compassion and for them to be allowed in.

There was also the question of two Australians among eight who were being detained and charged with the proselytizing Christianity with the prospect of being executed. The question was whether all the Afghans who so eagerly wanted to settle in Australia would join the rest of Australia in seeking the release of the eight, or would they be praying for their execution as well?

One other matter that got asked over and over again was if these were indeed refugees or whether they were destination shoppers. Questions asked were, when did they become refugees? Was it when they crossed the Afghanistan borders? Was it when they bought their tickets to fly out of Pakistan? What were they when they transited in Malaysia? Were they tourists or were they still refugees? What were they in Indonesia? Was there any record of them being refugees in any of the countries they passed through? Does one become a refugee only when one gets into an old boat that might collapse at any time?

How come these Afghans did not seek refugee status when they were in Malaysia, Pakistan or Indonesia? After all, these are Muslim countries where their religious needs will be adequately met!

MGG Pillai surely should know that the refugees being sent to Nauru and New Zealand are being sent there for processing. For all we know some of them might still get to go to Australia after all... it is only a matter of them subjecting themselves to the processing. Indeed if they are bona fide refugees they should wait their turn. Others who, unlike them, who could not afford the passage out of Pakistan, might have become refugees much earlier, yet because of the lack of money, are still in camps on the borders of Pakistan.

No doubt this whole thing is a sad affair. But unlike most of those countries which profess to live by higher 'Asian values', these 'decadent' western countries seem to be the destinations most sought after by the pious and religious refugees of Asian descent. Maybe after all the rhetoric, there is after all a basis to set out an index for 'holistic countries' based on preferred destinations of the refugees of the world!

Well, Mr Pillai, where would you put Malaysia if such an index was available? And how would Australia rank in that index?