Sydney-based activist Natalie Lowrey (left) was detained in June for protesting against the Lynas plant in Kuantan. – File pic by Keow Wee Loong, September 2, 2014.
It was not quite the warm welcome anyone would expect during Visit Malaysia Year 2014.
Sydney-based anti-rare earth plant campaigner Natalie Lowrey saw the ugly side of Malaysia yesterday when she was detained by the Immigration Department – she was not given food or water or allowed to book a flight back to Australia.
To top it all, despite the New Zealand citizen asking repeatedly, the Immigration Department could not give any reason why they were not allowing her into the country.
She had to conclude that she was denied entry into Malaysia because of her involvement in a campaign against the Australian rare earth miner and producer Lynas, which has a processing plant in Kuantan, Pahang.
Speaking from Bali where she was forced to fly to, Lowrey related her experience to The Malaysian Insider on how she was treated by immigration officers and how that had only steeled her resolve to continue fighting for Lynas to stop its Malaysian operations.
She said that when she had asked the Immigration officers for water to drink, they had told her that "they did not have any water" and told her to get her own water and food.
"The problem with this is that where I was being kept, there was nothing. No drinks vending machine. I only got a bottle of water from Air Asia when I was handed over to them to get on the flight to Bali at 10.30am on Monday," she said of her overnight ordeal at the KLIA2, which lasted 14 hours.
From Bali, Lowrey took the flight back to Sydney last night.
Lowrey added that her requests to buy an air ticket directly back to Sydney from KLIA2 was also denied, as the immigration insisted she must return to Bali, simply because they did not believe her when she told the immigration officers that she is a permanent resident in Australia.
“How do we know that you really live in Sydney? I kept telling them I live in Sydney. But they refused to allow me to buy a ticket back to Australia and insisted I return to Bali which is where I had flown to Kuala Lumpur from,” said Lowrey who holds a New Zealand passport but is a permanent resident in Australia.
Australia and New Zealand citizens do not require visas as they are part of the Commonwealth, of which Malaysia is a member.
She said that she was surprised that she was blacklisted by the police and not the Immigration, adding that even the Immigration officers appeared "perplexed" about this but still refused to allow her in.
Lowrey said following her arrest and release in June over a peaceful protest demanding Lynas to close down its operations of the Lynas Advanced Material Plant (Lamp), in Kuantan, she had asked the police in Kuantan if she would be allowed back into the country.
"They told me there should be no problem but that was the Kuantan police," she said.
Lowrey said that when she was denied entry upon arrival on Sunday night, her lawyer Farhana Halim had come to KLIA2 but was not allowed to meet her and only managed to talk to her on her cell phone.
She said her visit this time was to show solidarity for the 15 other local activists who were detained with her in June and were being tried in the Kuantan court today.
She was also scheduled to travel to other parts of Malaysia, including Penang, to meet up with friends and other activists during her planned three-week stay here, adding that she "loved Malaysia, its people, food and culture".
Lowrey said however that this episode would not deter her from continuing her work, not only on the "Stop Lynas" campaign, but against the broader challenge in pressuring governments to stop their intimidation tactics in criminalising communities that speak out against environmental concerns in their neighborhoods.
She also hoped that Lynas Corporation Ltd would not be given a permanent licence once its temporary operating licence (TOL) expires at midnight today.
The Australian mining company chose Malaysia for its operations following generous incentives including pioneer status and a 12-year tax holiday. It employs some 300 personnel in its Kuantan facility.
Lowrey added that while she was determined to appeal against her blacklisting, her immediate priority was to get back to Sydney and continue her activism work, especially on the current situation at the Lynas plant in Kuantan.
She is also fighting for the gag order on the 15 activists facing trial to be lifted.
- TMI
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