The official however declined to say why Wong was denied entry.
KUALA LUMPUR: Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong was Tuesday refused admission to Malaysia, where he planned to speak about the city’s pro-democracy movement and the anniversary of China’s Tiananmen Square massacre.
Wong was the teenage face of the “Umbrella Movement”, which brought parts of Hong Kong to a standstill for more than two months late last year with mass rallies calling for fully free leadership elections.
“This morning we stopped Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong from entering Penang. We subsequently deported him back to Hong Kong on the same Dragonair flight,” said an immigration official at Penang airport on condition of anonymity.
The official declined to say why Wong was denied entry.
“Malaysian government is not letting me enter their border. Taking my original flight back to Hong Kong,” Wong had said earlier on his Twitter account.
In a separate Tweet he added that a Malaysian customs officer had said the refusal was due to a “government order”. Wong did not elaborate.
He was due to arrive back in Hong Kong in the late afternoon.
Scholarism, the student protest group which Wong founded, posted a statement on its Facebook page saying he had been invited to visit by “Malaysian activists”.
“Local personnel temporarily took away his passport for inspection when he arrived… and later refused his entry and asked him to be returned to Hong Kong with no reason,” it said.
Wong, 18, said he had been invited to share his “experience and views on the Umbrella Movement and the June 4 incident”, the South China Morning Post reported.
His visit came less than two weeks before the 26th anniversary on June 4 of the Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing.
Hong Kong commemorates the anniversary each year with a candlelit vigil attended by thousands in Victoria Park.
A spokesman for Hong Kong’s immigration department said the entry of its residents to other countries was “out of the control of the Hong Kong government”.
Hong Kong authorities have not imposed any travel restrictions on Wong.
- AFP
"Hong Kong student leader Wong barred from Malaysia"
ReplyDeleteJust to share this...
Sep 28, 2014 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iq2ifvcw6KQ
Sep 29, 2014 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S2rHyPgKmo
Oct 1, 2014 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2nSFBaN2NM
Oct 3, 2014 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7RRz_W6j1s
Oct 4, 2014 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxzmhxdMnZk
Oct 13, 2014 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cp2a4v3hBVg
Joshua Wong (activist) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joshua_Wong_%28activist%29
"...He recalled that at the Penang airport, customs officers kept him waiting for half an hour before telling him that it was "a government order" that he must immediately take the next flight back on the plane he arrived on. He was also stopped in making a phone call to the event organiser.
"I understand the mainland [Chinese] government may see me as a sensitive person, but I am not here to fight for universal suffrage in Malaysia. Why take this step and close the door to me? I’m only there to share my experience with the local Chinese. I’m not there to plant a revolution," Wong said in a statement.
Wong also lamented that he had lost a chance to leave home for a while and get some fresh air amid the intense debate on political reform.
"In Hong Kong the pressure is intense and there’s only work, work and work apart from sleeping," he said. "I want to know how many other countries have blacklisted me.
If there are [any], please let me know, so I don’t have to be returned only after I book the air tickets and a hotel room ... The authoritarian regimes are sick."
The Malaysian consulate in Hong Kong confirmed Wong was denied entry.
"Based on records available to me, the named subject is listed as 'NTL' – not allowed to land. I am unable to furnish any reason due to it being a confidential matter beyond my authority to discern,” immigration attache Wang Syaifuldin told the South China Morning Post.
According to online news outlet Malaysiakini, Malaysia’s Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi claimed to have no knowledge that immigration had banned the 18-year-old activist from entering the country.
Based on records available to me, the named subject is listed as 'NTL' – not allowed to land.- Wang Syaifuldin
The minister explained that if immigration banned a foreign citizen, particularly an activist from entering the country, it was mainly for reasons of national security. When asked why Wong was detained at Penang airport, he said he needed to speak with the director general of immigration on that.
Ahmad said the Malaysian government holds an open attitude to differences of opinion and on the political ideology of activists. However, if foreign activists or citizens could affect the country negatively, the government would be stern on them, he said.
According to Wong’s Facebook page, he was to attend a series of events co-organised by a non-government organisation called the Working Committee for the 26th Anniversary Commemoration of June 4 Incident in Malaysia, and seven other local activist and youth groups...
Event organisers called the government’s move "political suppression" and demanded it explain why Wong was refused entry and whether it keeps a blacklist on immigration.
"The committee was waiting at Penang airport and approached the Immigration Department many times, but we were not given a clear explanation," the group said.
It is the second year the group has organised a June 4 event, but the first time a foreign speaker has been denied entry. The talks will be held as usual, the organisers said..."
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1808975/student-activist-joshua-wong-denied-entry-malaysia-speak
You be the judge.