Australian prime minister Julia Gillard has said that her government would get to the bottom of Malaysia's detention of independent senator Nick Xenophon, who was unceremoniously booted out of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport by Malaysian authorities.
“I am glad that he is back safe and well but we will continue to pursue this matter with Malaysia,” Gillard told The Australian, who said Gillard "was surprised and disappointed by his treatment".
But former prime minister Kevin Rudd called for Canberra to be more "robust" in its reaction.
"Detaining any member of an Australian parliament, in the way in which Senator Xenophon appears to have been detained, is just unacceptable," he told Australia's Sky News today.
"We are robust about our democracy and therefore we should be robust in our response to our friends in Kuala Lumpur."
Xenophon travelled to Malaysia yesterday as the head of an unofficial parliamentary delegation to evaluate the election system. However, the outspoken senator, who angered Barisan Nasional leaders over his criticism of their handling of the Bersih rally in April last year, was detained on arrival and returned to Australia.
He now said he would fight in the Malaysian courts to remove his name off a 'security watch list'.
"I understand the decision to deport me came from the highest levels of the Malaysian government,'' he told reporters after touching down at Melbourne airport. "It is clear that I was deported because of my advocacy for the pro-democracy movement in Malaysia."
Following his criticisms at BN leaders last year, UMNO's New Straits Times published a fabricated statement accusing Xenophon of being anti-Islam.
The paper was then forced to issue an apology.
Xenophon meanwhile said it could be "many years or decades" before he was allowed to visit Malaysia again.
He said the Malaysian government had miscalculated by deporting him and thus creating publicity.
"They've miscalculated. This was going to be a low key visit ... I think it's spectacularly backfired on them," he added.
-Harakahdaily
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