An unusually large number of Malaysian Indians have inquired about migrating to Australia after a big protest against racial discrimination late last month, a private immigration agency said this week.

More than 10,000 ethnic Indians staged the community’s biggest anti-government protest Nov. 23, sparked by anger over policies they say prevent them from getting decent jobs or a good education for their children.

“This week the phone has not stopped ringing,” said Louis Lovestrand, director at Global Migration Solutions Sdn Bhd, a firm specializing in Australian migration and visas. “There’s been an unusual rush.”

“Normally, our clientele is about 15 per cent Indian. But this week enquiries and applications from local Indians have tripled,” he said in a statement.

The Australian embassy in Kuala Lumpur said it could not comment on any ongoing migration application.

Multi-racial Malaysia has denied claims it mistreated ethnic Indians, saying that they were better off than those in India. Ethnic Indians form 7 per cent of Malaysia’s 26 million people.
Lovestrand said most of the enquiries came from lawyers, doctors and IT professionals. 

 

Each applicant has to fork out about 15,000 ringgit ($5,000) per family. It takes about nine to 11 months to be approved.

Malaysia is the ninth-largest source of migrants for Australia, sending around 3,000 families a year, the firm said. 

Meanwhile, Malaysia has told India not to meddle in its internal affairs after New Delhi expressed concerns over the treatment of ethnic Indians in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the government would deal with citizens according to its own laws and no other country should interfere, The Star newspaper reported.

Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the protesters, many of them Tamils with their roots in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, sparking outrage and demands from Tamil politicians that New Delhi intervene.

“If they break any law, it is our right to deal with them in accordance with Malaysian laws,” Syed Hamid was quoted as saying.

India said on Friday it was concerned about the treatment of ethnic Indians in Malaysia and had taken up with Kuala Lumpur accusations that protesters from the community had been harassed.

“The government remains deeply solicitous for the welfare of people of Indian origin living abroad,” Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told parliament.

“We have friendly relations with Malaysia and we are in touch with the Malaysian authorities in the related matter.”