KUALA LUMPUR — Putrajaya does not need to entertain Canberra’s criticism for expelling Australian senator Nick Xenophon, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today in the face of concern for ties between both nations.
The former prime minister also said the Australian government was free to criticise but Malaysia’s government had the right to enforce its laws.
“If he comes here with no good intentions, might as well not come here,” Dr Mahathir (picture) said, referring to Xenophon.
“If they want to criticise, they can criticise. We don’t have to entertain them,” he told reporters at a Chinese New Year celebration in the city today, this time referring to the Gillard administration.
Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard was reported telling Australian media that her government would continue to press Malaysia for explanations after failing to convince authorities to let Xenophon stay in the country.
“Clearly we didn’t succeed in getting the agreement of the Malaysian government for him to remain in Malaysia.
“We will continue to pursue this issue with the Malaysian government,” Gillard was quoted by news agency AFP as saying in Melbourne today.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Bob Carr told reporters in Sydney he had already spoken with his Malaysian counterpart to express his surprise and disappointment at Xenophon’s deportation but hoped the incident would not cool relations between both countries.
“I said I thought no ill could come of having an Australian senator there to observe the elections,” Carr was quoted as saying today by Australian news channel Skynews.
He was also reported saying the Malaysian government took strong objection to foreign interference in their election campaign.
Dr Mahathir also said today that Xenophon’s deportation would not affect the relations between the two countries.
When approached by reporters, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who was also with Dr Mahathir at the Chinese New Year event, said he would not comment on the matter today.
Putrajaya had clashed with Canberra 20 years ago when then Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating called Dr Mahathir ‘‘recalcitrant’’ for not attending the 1993 Asia-Pacific economic forum.
Australia’s former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has called Xenophon’s detention unacceptable and urged Canberra to be “robust” in response.
Xenophon arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday morning to call on Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, de facto law minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Aziz and Election Commission (EC) officials next week, but was detained at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal in Sepang and subsequently deported late at night.
Xenophon was to review the country’s electoral system with a delegation of other Australian MPs and senators that would arrive later, but his colleagues have cancelled the trip in response to his deportation.
Australian media quoted Xenophon today as saying that his deportation revealed how “dire and critical” the state of Malaysian democracy was.
The senator was also quoted as saying that his deportation was a “big mistake” as it had backfired on Putrajaya.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, however, said yesterday that Xenophon’s deportation was not a political move and insisted that it was in accordance with the law.
Immigration Department director-general Datuk Alias Ahmad said yesterday that Xenophon was deported and barred from entering Malaysia under the Immigration Act 8(3) because the senator had made statements that allegedly tarnished Malaysia’s image.
Alias highlighted Xenophon’s remarks about the Malaysian government being “authoritarian” in handling last April’s Bersih 3.0 rally for free and fair elections.
In Xenophon’s observation of the rally, he noted that the police had fired tear gas and chemical-laced water in what had been a largely peaceful protest.
His comments were also laid down in the final report of a fact-finding mission on elections in Malaysia as part of an international polls observer group that included six others, including representatives from neighbouring Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Pakistan and Germany.
Xenophon’s detention and deportation have raised the ire of several Malaysians, including electoral reform group Bersih 2.0 and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) politicians.
Bersih 2.0 co-chair Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan lambasted Xenophon’s deportation as a move that showed the government’s “paranoia” about the coming national polls.
Anwar called it a “gross abuse of power” that violated international protocol in treating international lawmakers, especially those from the Commonwealth.
Several other Twitter users joined Ambiga in raining scorn on the government’s decision, with the subject spawning a hashtag #xenophon.
The Election Commission (EC) however has defended the lawmaker’s deportation, saying that immigration authorities were merely performing their duty.
EC deputy chairman Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar added that it was unjust to judge the fairness of the coming Election 2013 based on Xenophon’s expulsion.
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