The deportation of Hamza Kashgari, a 23-year-old Saudi Arabian jounalist, clearly showed that the government has scant regard for human rights, rule of law and justice.
DAP international bureau secretary Liew Chin Tong said it was often cynically observed that foreign policy was merely an extension of domestic politics.
“In the case of Malaysia, it is unfortunately true.
“It was a black day for Malaysia’s international image,” the Bukit Bendera MP said in his e-statement here today.
Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s government detained and deported the young Saudi at Kuala Lumpur International Airport following an Interpol request.
Kashgari was en route to New Zealand to seek asylum.
The journalist had fled his country after his twitter comments about Prophet Muhammad triggered calls for his execution.
The Arabian columnist was detained by Malaysian authorities despite fears voiced by human rights groups that he could face execution in his home country.
He was deported despite his lawyers obtaining a Malaysian court order to prevent it.
Liew noted that Malaysia was now also the butt of international jokes as a result of the BBC’s global apology over the FBC Media scandal.
The Malaysian government paid public relation company FBC Media to make a series of eight documentaries for the BBC about Malaysia, while failing to declare it was paid 17 million pound by the Malaysian government for “global strategic communications”.
Investigations into the scandal uncovered 15 breaches of editorial guidelines of which eight were related to FBC’s programmes on Malaysia.
But, Liew said the millions that the Najib administration spent on public relations companies were meaningless if the government cannot uphold basic human rights principles in the case of Kashgari and uphold integrity in the BBC-FBC case.
“Malaysia is not a backwater banana republic.
“We used to pride ourselves as an important and supposedly principled player in the international arena.
“The deportation was a black day for Malaysia in the eyes of the world,” Liew added.
Arrested in Riyadh
Meanwhile Saudi newspaper Arab News says Kashgari has been detained on arrival in Riyadh after being deported from Malaysia.
Kashgari caused an outcry among devout Saudis earlier this month, when he used his Twitter account to post thoughts about the Prophet Muhammad they deemed insulting to Islam.
The comments by the 23-year-old columnist for Jeddah-based newspaper al-Bilad triggered tens of thousands of Twitter responses, many from enraged Saudis calling for his death.
Kashgari quickly apologized and deleted his Twitter account, but fled the country last Tuesday as the outrage grew.
A day later, a committee of senior Saudi clerics appointed by the king declared Kashgari to be an apostate – a crime punishable by death – and called for him to be put on trial.
Christoph Wilcke, a senior researcher with New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch, told Voice of America that Kashgari is “very unlikely” to get a fair trial in which the offending remarks can be explained.
Wilcke said the senior Saudi clerics who called for Kashgari to face trial also have predetermined its outcome by declaring him an apostate. He said one cleric even called for the blogger to be executed.
But, Wilcke said there is a chance that Kashgari could appeal to Saudi King Abdullah for leniency and avoid execution. He noted the case of Hadi al Mutif, a member of the minority Ismaili sect whom the government pardoned last week after arresting him for apostasy in 1993 and later sentencing him to death.
Athi Shankar @
'Free Malaysia Today'
