1705228 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal considered the case of a Malaysian national seeking a protection visa. The applicant claimed to have left Malaysia due to fear of imprisonment for his involvement in a Bersih (The Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections) demonstration in August 2015. He asserted that upon return to Malaysia, he would face detention and questioning by the police, believing all Bersih members would be detained.

The primary legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant qualified for a protection visa, either under the refugee criterion or on complementary protection grounds. This required determining if the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of political opinion, or if there were substantial grounds to believe that removal from Australia would result in a real risk of significant harm. The Tribunal also considered the applicant's claim that relocation within Malaysia was not a viable option.

The Tribunal found that the applicant, a national of Malaysia, had not established a well-founded fear of persecution. While acknowledging his participation in a demonstration and a brief, unforced encounter with voluntary police, the Tribunal noted that he was never detained, questioned, or requested to provide identification by the police. Furthermore, the applicant's actions during the demonstration, where he repeatedly evaded voluntary police, were not considered to be indicative of a genuine fear of persecution. The Tribunal also considered the provisions for complementary protection, which require a real risk of significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal, and found that this threshold was not met.

Consequently, the Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the applicant a protection visa, concluding that he did not satisfy the criteria under section 36(2) of the Migration Act 1958.