PERTH: Australia is seeking further explanation from Malaysia about why an Australian senator, who went to politically sensitive Malaysia to discuss electoral reform, was denied entry and deported, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Sunday.
Malaysia refused entry on Saturday to independent Senator Nick Xenophon, with an immigration official saying the decision was made because he had participated in an illegal street rally for electoral reform in the Southeast Asian country last year.
The Malaysian government is bracing for an election within months that is expected to be the closest in the former British colony’s history.
“We made immediate and strenuous representations on his behalf, not only in relation to him being detained, but into him being allowed to be in Malaysia,” Gillard told reporters in Melbourne, where Xenophon had arrived earlier on Sunday.
“Clearly we didn’t succeed. We will continue to pursue this issue with the Malaysian government.”
Xenophon was part of an unofficial delegation seeking to discuss the coming elections with members of the Malaysian government, opposition, judiciary and election commission. The other three members of the delegation cancelled their trip after Xenophon was detained on arrival in Kuala Lumpur.
He said he had been told he had been detained because he was considered “a security risk”.
The Malaysian government said he had broken the law on a previous visit.
Xenophon was invited to Malaysia last year by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and observed a major street rally for electoral reform in April that ended in violence. He later criticised the government’s handling of the rally. (Agencies)