1726119 (Refugee)

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal reviewed a decision concerning an applicant's claim for a protection visa. The applicant, an ethnic Chinese individual, alleged discrimination and harassment by Malaysian gangs, claiming they forced him to lower prices for his contracting business and that he feared continued persecution upon return to Malaysia due to his ethnicity.

The Tribunal was required to determine whether the applicant had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, and whether Australia owed him protection obligations. A key issue was the applicant's failure to attend the scheduled hearing, necessitating the Tribunal to decide the matter in his absence.

The Tribunal found that the applicant had not provided any evidence, beyond his own claims, to substantiate his allegations of persecution. His history of continuous employment since 2005 and stable residential address since birth in Malaysia were considered inconsistent with the claimed persecution. Furthermore, the applicant did not attend the hearing, despite being properly notified, and therefore the Tribunal could not seek clarification on his claims. The Tribunal applied the criteria for a well-founded fear of persecution, including the requirement for serious harm involving systematic and discriminatory conduct, and found that these criteria were 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.