Mu Sochua ‘can stay’:
Mu Sochua detained while en route home
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian immigration authorities yesterday temporarily detained Cambodian fugitive opposition figure Mu Sochua, who plans to return home this weekend following years of self-exile abroad despite the risk of arrest.
Jerald Joseph, head of the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, better known as Suhakam, told Kyodo News that Mu Sochua was being released after being detained at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Wednesday night, and is now allowed to stay in the country.
He said he spoke with the Nobel Peace Prize nominee and Cambodia National Rescue Party vice president and “she is OK.”
Mu Sochua is among the nine CNRP leaders wanted by Cambodian authorities after being accused of plotting a coup.
Commenting on the detention case earlier in the day, Prime Minister Mohamad Mahathir said his government “wanted to deport her” but was “trying to find any country that can take her”.
“We do not want to be at odds with other governments because this is not our affairs,” Dr Mahathir said, while urging foreign opposition movements not “to use Malaysia as a base for their struggles in other countries.”
Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah confirmed there were requests from Cambodia “to send back a certain number of people”, but he maintained that Malaysia may not accede.
“We make our own decision not because of any request or any kind of interference from foreign countries,” he said.
“We are a pro-democracy government. We follow things very closely, but at the same time we cannot interfere with what happens in other countries.”
The charges against Mu Sochua and other opposition politicians follow a social media appeal by her party’s acting president Sam Rainsy to the armed forces to support the people to overthrow Prime Minister Hun Sen on Nov 9 — the date fixed for their scheduled return to Cambodia.
Also Thursday, Sam Rainsy was refused permission to board a Thai Airways flight from Paris to Bangkok, local pro-opposition media reported from French capital.
It came after Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said Wednesday he had ordered that Sam Rainsy not be allowed to enter Thailand, from where he, Mu Sochua and others planned to cross over by land into Cambodia on Saturday, risking arrest.
Sam Rainsy, the founder of the CNRP, who has been in exile since 2015 to avoid serving a prison term on charges that he says are politically motivated, had hoped to return accompanied by a mass of followers, including from the huge community of Cambodian migrant workers living and working in Thailand.
At a press conference Wednesday in Jakarta, Mu Sochua said they would also be “risking our lives” by returning to Cambodia.
Prior to its court-ordered dissolution in November 2017, the CNRP was the sole opposition party in the National Assembly, with 55 seats compared with 68 held by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.
Its removal ahead of the July 2018 election enabled Hun Sen’s ruling Cambodian People’s Party to win all 125 seats in parliament, thus allowing him to extend his 33-year rule for another five years.
In addition to CNRP’s abrupt dissolution, the opposition party’s lawmakers were also banned from participating in Cambodian politics for five years.