Malaysians Have Turned Away 8,500 ‘Boat People,’ Observers Say

More than 8,500 Vietnamese “boat people” have been turned away from Malaysian shores despite a pledge by the country to offer the refugees asylum, international observers said Friday.

The officials said they fear the practice of turning away the Vietnamese, called boat people because they flee Vietnam in boats, could spread the growing refugee problem to other parts of the Pacific.

“What we experience in this part of the world now with the Vietnamese boat people, I believe could have a contagious effect,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Thorvald Stoltenberg said Friday.

Stoltenberg, who is making his first visit to the region since assuming office in January, said he fears an accord adopted last June at the Conference on Indochina Refugees is in danger of collapsing.

Under the accord, Southeast Asian countries agreed to offer asylum to all refugees while efforts continue to stem the flow of people from Vietnam.

Reports from Malaysia and other countries, however, indicate they have been turning away the refugees, leaving them adrift to try their luck elsewhere, because the countries are overburdened by the thousands of Vietnamese refugees already housed in crowded camps.

Since the Communist invasion of 1975, thousands of Vietnamese have fled their homeland in an exodus that has not abated over the years.

Hong Kong has forcibly repatriated some Vietnamese and offered money to others to return home voluntarily.