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Hong Kong pro-democracy student activist refused entry to Malaysia
26-05-2015 14:54
Joshua Wong, 18, was travelling to speak about the umbrella movement which he spearheaded in the city last year and the Tiananmen Square massacre
The student leader Joshua Wong has been refused admission to Malaysia, where he planned to speak about Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement and the 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.
Speaking on condition of anonymity on Tuesday, an immigration official at Penang airport said: “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.”
The official declined to say why he was denied entry. On his arrival back in Hong Kong on Tuesday evening, Wong, 18, said customs officers in Malaysia had taken his passport and air ticket for half an hour before telling him he was being sent back immediately.
“I asked what’s the reason? Were there any documents? And the representative only said it was a government order,” Wong told reporters. “I asked if there was any detailed information about the government order and they didn’t want to respond. They tried to grab my arms and take me away.”
He said he thought there was a “political reason” behind the move, but said: “I don’t understand how there is any relation between the umbrella movement and Malaysia’s national security.”
Hong Kong authorities have not imposed any travel restrictions on Wong. His attempt to visit Malaysia came less than two weeks before the 26th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy protesters in Beijing on 4 June 1989. Hong Kong commemorates the anniversary each year with a candlelit vigil attended by thousands in the city’s Victoria Park.
Wong has called on the Hong Kong government to look into his case, saying it was an infringement of his right to travel freely. “I don’t understand why Malaysia refused me as I’m fighting for universal suffrage within China, not in Malaysia,” he said.
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Hong Kong’s security bureau said the government “attaches importance” to residents’ rights abroad, but did not say whether it would intervene in Wong’s case. “We respect the right of other jurisdictions in exercising immigration control and making decisions in accordance with their laws,” it said in a statement.