Buyung fuming with KL over deportation
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution said on Wednesday he would sue the Malaysian government after he was expelled from the country immediately after arriving at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Tuesday.
Buyung, who visited Kuala Lumpur to show support for jailed opposition leader and former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim, claimed his deportation was an abuse of basic human rights.
"I was arbitrarily refused entry to the country ... This is further proof of Malaysia's authoritarian administration which not only abuses the rights of its own people, but also the rights of foreigners," he told a media conference.
He said upon his arrival at Kuala Lumpur at 10:30 p.m., immigration officers barred him from entry for security reasons saying the ban came from "the highest authority in Malaysia".
Buyung said the reason for his expulsion was unclear.
He said he and colleague Paskah Irianto from the Jakarta office of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI Jakarta) were forced to leave for Singapore on a flight at 11:30 p.m. before returning to Jakarta.
Buyung, co-founder of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI) and member of the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), said he intended to deliver a petition to the Malaysian Parliament seeking consent for Anwar to seek medical treatment overseas.
Anwar is reportedly suffering spinal problems and needs immediate surgery to save him from paralysis.
The petition is signed by 23 of Anwar's Indonesian friends and supporters, including People's Consultative Assembly speaker Amien Rais, Muslim scholar Imaduddin, Muhammadiyah chairman Syafi'i Maarif, sociologist Ignas Kleden, cultural observers W.S. Rendra and Ramadhan KH, and senior journalists Jacob Oetama, Djaffar H. Assegaff and Aristides Katoppo.
Buyung was also invited by the opposition National Justice Party -- led by Anwar's wife Azizah Ismail -- to address Malaysian reform groups on the reform movement in Indonesia.
Buyung was one of the observers attending Anwar's trial in 1998 on corruption charges, which were held after Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad dismissed Anwar for opposing a financial policy. Anwar was convicted and sentenced to 15-years jail.
The Associated Press reported that an airport immigration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Buyung was barred from entering Malaysia indefinitely. The source declined to elaborate.
Raja Petra Kamarudin, head of the Free Anwar Campaign, slammed the deportation as a "very rough and uncultured way of treating a foreign leader".