Taiwan environmentalist Kam Chen Yi was today refused entry into Malaysia, the second visitor to be stopped after an Australian lawmaker was similarly turned away last month.
Immigration Department director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad confirmed that Kam was stopped from passing through the immigration gates upon her arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang at about 2am.
“It’s not an arrest,” he said, adding that the immigration officers did not detain her.
The officers had found the Taiwanese woman’s name in Malaysia’s blacklist when she went to the immigration counter, Alias said.
He told The Malaysian Insider that Kam will leave for Taipei, her country’s national capital, at about 3.30pm this afternoon.
Kam,also known as Grace Kan, was stopped by immigration officials from going past its counter at the airport, news portal Malaysiakini reported today.
The green activist was purportedly blacklisted by the Malaysian authorities because of her past activities here, the news portal said.
Last July, Kam reportedly participated in campaigns against the Petronas Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) project in Pengerang, Johor — a multi-billion project which residents and green activists have claimed poses a serious health and environmental risk.
The Taiwan national was said to be here for a symposium on marine mammals in Langkawi.
Last month, Australian Senator Nick Xenophon was deported from the country for posing a “security risk”.
Xenophon had said he was part of a bipartisan Australian delegation that was to review the country’s electoral system, but his colleagues subsequently cancelled their trip after his deportation.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had said that Xenophon’s deportation was not a political move and insisted that it was in accordance with the law.
Alias had said that Xenophon was deported and barred from entering Malaysia under the Immigration Act because the senator had made statements that allegedly tarnished Malaysia’s image.
Xenophon had remarked that the Malaysian government being “authoritarian” in handling last April’s Bersih 3.0 rally for free and fair elections.
In Xenophon’s observation of the rally, he noted that the police had fired tear gas and chemical-laced water in what had been a largely peaceful protest.
His comments were also laid down in the final report of a fact-finding mission on elections in Malaysia as part of an international polls observer group that included six others, including representatives from neighbouring Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan and Germany.
Xenophon’s detention and deportation raised the ire of several Malaysians, including electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) politicians.
The Election Commission (EC) however defended the lawmaker’s deportation, saying that immigration authorities were merely performing their duty.
EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar said it was unjust to judge the fairness of the coming Election 2013 based on Xenophon’s expulsion.
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