Hong Kong lawmaker 'Long Hair' denied entry to Malaysia to speak about Tiananmen crackdown
Lawmaker threatens to sue Kuala Lumpur government after it blocks him from entering to deliver speech on Tiananmen crackdown
PUBLISHED : Friday, 29 May, 2015, 2:51pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 30 May, 2015, 7:41am
Stuart Lau and Jeffie Lam
Leung Kwok-hung returns from Malaysia. Photo: May Tse
Pan-democratic lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung was denied entry at Kuala Lumpur International Airport yesterday, becoming the second Hong Kong activist in a week to be turned back by Malaysian authorities after being invited to speak on mainland Chinese affairs.
He vowed to sue the Malaysian government, while saying it was "absolutely inappropriate" for Hong Kong authorities to remain silent on a foreign state's decision to blacklist a lawmaker for unspecified reasons.
"The Malaysian government has infringed human rights by refusing entry to me as a representative of the Hong Kong people," he told reporters after returning to Chek Lap Kok airport.
Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok said the government respected and would not intervene in immigration decisions enforced by a foreign government in accordance with the law.
Leung found himself shut out of Malaysia when he was heading for a forum as an invited speaker of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and crackdown - the same event that Scholarism convenor Joshua Wong Chi-fung was travelling to attend when he was snubbed at Penang International Airport on Tuesday.
The lawmaker was wearing a T-shirt with the words "Vindicate June 4" and a blood-stained cartoon tank at the time.
As soon as he approached an immigration counter at the Kuala Lumpur airport, he said, a Malaysian officer directed him to a room, where his travel documents were temporarily seized.
When he asked for contact with a lawyer about half an hour later, he was told to board a Cathay Pacific flight back to Hong Kong immediately.
An official document given to Leung stated he had contravened the immigration laws of Malaysia, but did not elaborate.
"Imagine if a US senator was told to go home as soon as he arrived in Hong Kong. What kind of uproar would arise [in America]?" Leung asked.
In Wong's case, Malaysia's police chief had said the country did not want him to jeopardise its ties with China.
Wong, an Occupy Central student leader, missed four seminars at which he was to talk about the movement for democracy last year and the Tiananmen crackdown.
In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying had earlier said China respected Malaysia's decision to bar Wong entry, adding that any nation was entitled to immigration controls.
Correction: A previous version of this article mistakenly said Leung Kwok-hung was detained at Penang airport.
