The Australian government has urged Malaysia to tighten immigration controls and issuance of visas to prevent human trafficking of boat people.

kevin rudd australia pm 150208 Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made the request to his counterpart Najib Abdul Razak in Jakarta yesterday.

The request was conveyed by him during their bilateral meeting after attending the swearing-in ceremony of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang.

The request comes after about 1500 asylum-seekers arrived in Indonesia this year and registered for refugee status using Malaysia as a transit point to go by boat to Indonesia. Another 1500 have arrived recently but have not registered.

Television visuals and pictures of the boat people arriving in Indonesian waters hit the headlines in the Australian media showing a representative of the Sri Lankan refugees pleading for help from the Australian government.

Australia is facing a rise in the number of refugees arriving by boat, mostly from war-ravaged Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

To curb the flow, Australia's government has set up a Joint Task Force together with Malaysia and Indonesia to tackle the problem of boat people at the transit points where human trafficking agents are raking in approximately RM50,000 from each refugee.

Malaysia a trafficking transit point

According to the Australian media, Indonesian police intelligence suggests between 7000 and 10,000 more people are waiting in Malaysia to make the journey once their passage is organised by people-smugglers.

"It could be 10,000," said senior commissioner Eko Danianto, head of the people smuggling unit at the Indonesian National Police.

malaysia worst refugees place 180609 02 "They comprise a mix of nationalities, not only Afghans. There are also Sri Lankan, Myanmarese (Burmese), Iraqis."

However an Australian academic, Dr Roslyn Richardson, of Charles Sturt University, has said asylum seekers know little about Australia before their arrival to Austalia.

Networks of people-smugglers service the 1 million Indonesian illegal workers who regularly travel to Malaysia by boat. The same networks also help arrange passage to Australia via Indonesia.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has about 49,000 registered refugees and asylum-seekers in Malaysia and estimated there are 45,000 unregistered illegal immigrants.

Dr Richardson, according to media reports, said, "The asylum seekers knew little of Australia, let alone its immigration policies."