Hong Kong political activist and elected legislator Leung Kwok-hung (widely known as ‘Long Hair) was deported by the Malaysian Immigration as he arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) around 2pm today. This is following the earlier incident 3 days ago on May 26th when Joshua Wong, an 18-year-old student activist, also from Hong Kong, was deported due to ‘national security concerns’ according to the Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Both Leung and Wong were invited to by a Malaysian NGO to speak in forum organised to commemorate the China Tiananmen Massacre of June 4, 1989.
I could not understand why Malaysian government has to deport Leung and I condemn such unreasonable and excessive action. While Leung is known for his critical political views and actions against the Communist Party of China, it is hard for us to comprehend how that can be linked to the Malaysian government’s decision to bar him from Malaysia. His trip here is to participate in a forum organised by civil society. In a democratic society, differences in opinion are best sorted out through debates and exchanges of opinion in public discussions. Admittedly I do not share Leung’s political views and tendency but he should be allowed to speak in Malaysia. We are not a totalitarian communist country that is proud of completely censoring critical opinion.
Leung is a two-term elected member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. As a legislator from a friendly Commonwealth country, he should not be barred from Malaysia, unless there are concrete evidences suggesting that his entry would cause trouble to Malaysia.
With that I call upon the Home Minister to explain the decision to deport Leung to the people of Hong Kong and to the Malaysian public. While the nation is still shocked with the mass graves in Perlis and when the perpetrators of human trafficking and torture are still at large, the Home Minister should direct the Immigration Department and the Police towards finding the culprits and strengthening Malaysian border controls against the thieves and traffickers known to bring harms to Malaysians. The Perlis mass grave incident has brought shame to the nation. And now with deporting elected legislator and student activist from Hong Kong it certainly does not help to restore the confidence of Malaysian public and the international community in Malaysia as a country committed to the protection of human rights and rule-of-law.