PETALING JAYA: The editor of an Australian newspaper has voiced his disagreement over the deportation of senator Nick Xenophon on Saturday.
Sydney Morning Herald political and international editor Peter Hartcher wrote in his column Tuesday that the Malaysian government’s decision to ban Xenophon “says a good deal about the state of the government, the world’s longest ruling outside the communist world as it heads to an election.”
“The reason is that he is an international observer campaigning in favour of a free and fair election.
“This is not a threat to Malaysia’s national security, but it is a threat to the ruling party’s grip on power,” Hartcher wrote.
“Xenophon says that his detention and deportation shows a high level of paranoia’.
“But is it paranoia, or does the ruling party really have something to fear at the election it must call by the end of April?” said Hartcher.
Xenophon was detained by the Immigration Department for about 15 hours after he landed in the Low Cost Carrier Terminal in Sepang on Saturday.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein had said that Xenophon was blacklisted because he was a threat and a “danger to the Malaysian community”.
Hartcher also hit out at the Australian government’s own “tame” response to the situation, calling out its “limpness” in defending its citizens abroad.
“But, above all, Malaysia’s overreaction to Xenophon simply validates his point that it is not a mature democracy,” he wrote.
However, another Australian newspaper disagreed with Xenophon’s actions in publicising the matter, calling it “grandstanding” and “self-promoting”.
While admitting that the Malaysian government mishandled the deportation, The Australian’s foreign editor Greg Sheridan said that Xenophon’s gang have been campaigning for just one side of Malaysian politics – the opposition.
“He might reflect on the fact that the side he supports contains perhaps its strongest element the most extreme Islamist party in mainstream Southeast Asian politics.
“Xenophon wants the Australian government to send electoral monitors to the forthcoming Malaysian election. This idea is stupid and impractical,” wrote Sheridan.
While he wrote that Malaysia on any measure is one of the most democratic countries in Southeast Asia, its elections are not perfect, but certainly better than in most parts of the world.
“And it is a profoundly important diplomatic, security and people-to-people partner for Australia.
