1835660 (Refugee)

The applicant sought review of a decision not to grant her a protection visa. The applicant, a Malaysian citizen, claimed she left Malaysia due to fears for her safety arising from her brother's involvement in gangsterism and his friends forcing her to participate in illegal activities. She alleged physical assaults and a lack of effective protection from Malaysian authorities.

The central legal issue before the Tribunal was whether the applicant met the criteria for a protection visa, either as a refugee under section 5H of the *Migration Act 1958* (Cth) or on complementary protection grounds under section 36(2)(aa). This required determining if she had a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, and whether effective protection was available in Malaysia.

The Tribunal affirmed the decision not to grant the visa. It found that the applicant was a Malaysian citizen and that Malaysia was her country of nationality and the receiving country. While acknowledging the applicant's claims of harm, the Tribunal did not find that she had a well-founded fear of persecution for a Convention reason, nor that she would suffer significant harm as a necessary and foreseeable consequence of removal. The Tribunal's reasoning implicitly considered the availability of state protection and the applicant's ability to relocate within Malaysia, although these aspects are not detailed in the provided text. The Tribunal concluded that the applicant did not satisfy the criterion in section 36(2) of the Act.