BANGKOK: One of four refugees sent to Cambodia in a $55 million deal with Australia only three months ago wants to quit the impoverished nation.
Three others, an Iranian couple and Iranian man, have also complained about their lives in the capital Phnom Penh, sources say.
A 24-year-old ethnic Rohingya man from Myanmar has told Cambodian officials he wants to return to his homeland.
The decision is a blow to attempts by Australian immigration officials to convince hundreds of other refugees on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru that Cambodia is a promised land of opportunity with mosques, jobs, football and martial arts, no violent crime or even stray dogs.
Ian Rintoul, Sydney-based director of the Australian advocacy group Refugee Action Coalition, said the four refugees agreed to give up their hopes of reaching Australia and take a one-way ticket to Cambodia in the belief they would receive lump sum payments in excess of $10,000.
"They all went with the idea that they would get the money that they were being told they would get and be able to go somewhere else," Mr Rintoul told Associated Press.
"The government has dribbled the money to them. They've been kept in a very isolated arrangement and there's been no prospect for them," he said.
Mr Rintoul said the Iranian couple never received enough money to "even subsist, let alone do anything with it."
"They complained bitterly that they were struggling to survive in Cambodia - the whole resettlement arrangement is going belly-up," he said.
Refugee agency sources in Phnom Penh confirmed to Fairfax Media that the four refugees have been unhappy despite living in an Australian-paid luxury villa and being promised training, help finding work, language tuition, health insurance and other benefits.
"Their movements are restricted - they want to live the way they were promised they would be allowed to," said one source who asked for anonymity.
Australia has spent a staggering $15 million to resettle the four on top of $40 million in additional development aid the Abbott government gave the regime of strongman Hun Sen for signing the controversial agreement at a champagne-sipping ceremony last year.
Cambodian Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak told Associated Press the Rohingya man had contacted the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh asking to return home.
He said he did not know the embassy's response.
Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton last week downplayed comments made by Mr Khieu Sopheak that Cambodia does not have plans to accept any more refugees from Australia.
"I think the less we receive the better," Mr Khieu Sopheak had told the Cambodia Daily, prompting Mr Dutton, prime minister Tony Abbott and foreign minister Julie Bishop to defend the agreement.
In his latest comments Mr Khieu Sopheak said the agreement remains valid "but at the moment we want to see the first pilot refugees that have already arrived here integrate into our society before we accept newcomers."
The agreement gives Cambodia the right to decide how many refugees it accepts.
Mr Khieu Sopheak said the Rohingya man did not explain why he wanted to quit Cambodia but that his father had visited him recently and he may have sought to reunite his son with their family.
Myanmar's military-dominated government does not regard Rohingya as citizens, raising doubts the country will accept his return.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled western Myanmar in recent months to escape persecution and denial of their basic rights.
The four refugees have not spoken publicly since arriving in Phnom Penh in June, shielded by officials from the International Organisation for Migration which received an undisclosed amount of money from Australia for taking care of the group.
The Abbott government has a policy not to comment publicly on the Cambodian operation that has been condemned by Cambodian opposition parties, human rights and refugee advocate groups and the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
Mr Rintoul, who has been a major source on Nauru refugees and asylum seekers, said Australian immigration officials stopped harassing people on Nauru to go to Cambodia a few weeks ago.
A shipping container on the island had been set-up as a "Cambodian Information Hub" where refugees and asylum seekers were told they should take-up the offer because they would not be allowed to live in Australia.
"There's no sign of anyone else on Nauru going to Cambodia," he said.
Three others, an Iranian couple and Iranian man, have also complained about their lives in the capital Phnom Penh, sources say.
A 24-year-old ethnic Rohingya man from Myanmar has told Cambodian officials he wants to return to his homeland.
The decision is a blow to attempts by Australian immigration officials to convince hundreds of other refugees on the tiny Pacific island of Nauru that Cambodia is a promised land of opportunity with mosques, jobs, football and martial arts, no violent crime or even stray dogs.
Ian Rintoul, Sydney-based director of the Australian advocacy group Refugee Action Coalition, said the four refugees agreed to give up their hopes of reaching Australia and take a one-way ticket to Cambodia in the belief they would receive lump sum payments in excess of $10,000.
"They all went with the idea that they would get the money that they were being told they would get and be able to go somewhere else," Mr Rintoul told Associated Press.
"The government has dribbled the money to them. They've been kept in a very isolated arrangement and there's been no prospect for them," he said.
Mr Rintoul said the Iranian couple never received enough money to "even subsist, let alone do anything with it."
"They complained bitterly that they were struggling to survive in Cambodia - the whole resettlement arrangement is going belly-up," he said.
Refugee agency sources in Phnom Penh confirmed to Fairfax Media that the four refugees have been unhappy despite living in an Australian-paid luxury villa and being promised training, help finding work, language tuition, health insurance and other benefits.
"Their movements are restricted - they want to live the way they were promised they would be allowed to," said one source who asked for anonymity.
Australia has spent a staggering $15 million to resettle the four on top of $40 million in additional development aid the Abbott government gave the regime of strongman Hun Sen for signing the controversial agreement at a champagne-sipping ceremony last year.
Cambodian Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak told Associated Press the Rohingya man had contacted the Myanmar embassy in Phnom Penh asking to return home.
He said he did not know the embassy's response.
Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton last week downplayed comments made by Mr Khieu Sopheak that Cambodia does not have plans to accept any more refugees from Australia.
"I think the less we receive the better," Mr Khieu Sopheak had told the Cambodia Daily, prompting Mr Dutton, prime minister Tony Abbott and foreign minister Julie Bishop to defend the agreement.
In his latest comments Mr Khieu Sopheak said the agreement remains valid "but at the moment we want to see the first pilot refugees that have already arrived here integrate into our society before we accept newcomers."
The agreement gives Cambodia the right to decide how many refugees it accepts.
Mr Khieu Sopheak said the Rohingya man did not explain why he wanted to quit Cambodia but that his father had visited him recently and he may have sought to reunite his son with their family.
Myanmar's military-dominated government does not regard Rohingya as citizens, raising doubts the country will accept his return.
Tens of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled western Myanmar in recent months to escape persecution and denial of their basic rights.
The four refugees have not spoken publicly since arriving in Phnom Penh in June, shielded by officials from the International Organisation for Migration which received an undisclosed amount of money from Australia for taking care of the group.
The Abbott government has a policy not to comment publicly on the Cambodian operation that has been condemned by Cambodian opposition parties, human rights and refugee advocate groups and the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
Mr Rintoul, who has been a major source on Nauru refugees and asylum seekers, said Australian immigration officials stopped harassing people on Nauru to go to Cambodia a few weeks ago.
A shipping container on the island had been set-up as a "Cambodian Information Hub" where refugees and asylum seekers were told they should take-up the offer because they would not be allowed to live in Australia.
"There's no sign of anyone else on Nauru going to Cambodia," he said.
Being a refugee ( or luck seeking migrant), I would be happy with a Australian-paid luxury villa, training, help finding work, language tuition, and other benefits, beside a lump sum of $ 10,000 while being in Cambodja. ( minimum salary in Myanmar is 100 thb per day).
But papa came over from Myanmar , seems on a normal 2 way flight ticket ( so money not a problem) to ask son to come back, and now son want to go back to Myanmar. Is that a correct reading of this article. If correct, than I understand the Australian government not to allow this kind of people entering Australia. This guy, in your article, was not a refugee. And so are many not. Refugee shelter in cultural region. That is fair enough.
Posted by Kurt on September 7, 2015 13:31
Editor Comment:
Everybody who is Muslim and who gets on a boat in Burma is a refugee, Kurt. If I were you, I'd give up on guesswork. Read the words, that's what the article says. The rest is just Kurt, opining unwisely.