The government today turned down a proposal by a Barisan Nasional (BN) backbencher to set up a cross-party parliamentary committee to determine the status of Filipino and Burmese refugees here.

Responding to the proposal by Wilfred Madius Tangau (BN-Tuaran), Home Affairs Minister Azmi Khalid said there was no necessity for such a committee.

In his winding-up, the minister said the "government had its own mechanisms to solve the problems".

He said under the current laws, refugees could apply for permanent resident (PR) status but were not entitled to Malaysian citizenship.

"They are allowed to apply for PR status but the government will deal with this on a case-to-case basis. The applicants must have stayed in Malaysia for more than 20 years, have a good record and possess the IMM13 document (which authorises them to stay here)," he added.

Earlier, Tangau said a parliamentary committee is necessary to determine the future of these refugees and whether the government will grant them with citizenship or permanent resident status.

He also asked if the government would recognise some 30,000 child refugees in Sabah as permanent residents and provide them with education opportunities.

He said currently there is no authority monitoring Filipino refugees in Sabah since the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) there was closed down in 1986.

In 1984, the government also stopped issuing the Filipino refugees with the 'IMM13' document.

Creating problems

Tangau said the large number of Filipino refugees in Sabah had created numerous problems, such as competition with locals on economic grounds.

He said Parliament must also discuss the future and status of these refugees and whether the government will abolish the renewal of the IMM13 as there was no "solid rationale" to allow the refugees to remain in the country.

"The issuance of the refugee status should be temporary and not permanent... these refugees should go back to their country," he said.

"Malaysia has not ratified the UN Refugees Convention 1952, so the involvement of Malaysia (in protecting refugees) has been based on humanitarian grounds."

Tangau also urged the government to look into similar problems revolving around the Rohingya refugees from Burma, most of whom are in Peninsular Malaysia.

On the IMM13 document, Azmi said the proposal to replace this with international passports or other travel documents was good but would be difficult to implement, as most refugees do not have documents to support a passport application.