SBS Dateline | Welcome to Malaysia

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced plans to send 800 asylum seekers to Malaysia for processing as part of a refugee exchange deal.

But while we often hear about conditions for asylum seekers in Australia, what will they face in Malaysia, where refugees are considered to be illegal immigrants?

Video journalist Amos Roberts updates his 2009 Dateline investigation, which showed that refugees registered by the UN lived in constant fear of harassment and arrest.

Then, he accompanied a civilian militia on a midnight raid of an immigrant neighbourhood and was the first foreign journalist allowed to film in a Malaysian detention centre. He also exposed a top Malaysian Government official in denial about the problem.

Two years later, Dateline reveals that little has changed, despite the human rights assurances of the Malaysian Government - a recent Amnesty International report even found evidence of refugees being caned for immigration violations.

WATCH - Click to see Amos's report.

PARLIAMENTARY DEBATE - The day after broadcast on Dateline, Amos's report was praised during an Australian parliamentary debate on Amnesty International's 50th anniversary. Click to read the transcript.

VIDEO EXTRA - Replay Amos's original report from 2009, Malaysia's Crackdown.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL - Read Amnesty's reports on the situation for refugees in Malaysia.

WORLD NEWS AUSTRALIA - Go to SBS World News Australia's special section on Australia's Asylum Debate.

GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM - Watch SBS's groundbreaking series following six Australians as they trace, in reverse, the difficult journeys that asylum seekers have taken to reach Australia.

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