Media Statement
Don't Deport Burma Pro-Democracy Activist
Aliran urges the Malaysian government not to deport Peter Hee Man, an activist from Burma who was detained along with three Malaysians for gate-crashing a Burma embassy party, where they stripped off to reveal Aung San Suu Kyi T-shirts in front of 200 guests.
While the three Malaysians have been freed on police bail, there is growing concern that the Malaysian government may deport Hee Man to Burma.
The activists' gate-crashing into the embassy dinner is in fact far less serious than the disruption of the APCET conference in 1996, when thugs linked to the Barisan Nasional youth wings broke into the meeting, threatened the delegates and roughed up a couple of them.
None of those guilty of disrupting the conference was charged. Instead, it was the innocent foreign delegates who were deported while the equally innocent local participants were imprisoned for several days.
We regard Hee Man as a political refugee who needs protection from the military regime in Burma. As Malaysians, we should be equally concerned about human rights issues in Asia just as we are concerned about human rights violations in far away places.
We urge the Malaysian authorities to abide by the UN Declaration of Human Rights and not deport Hee Man without allowing the UN High Commissioner for Refugees an opportunity to interview him and determine his status.
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The trespass was not necessarily a criminal act but deporting Hee Man would be an inhuman act that would condemn him to torture or even death at the hands of the ruthless Burmese military junta.