LFL was expressing shock and confessed to being appalled that Mugiyanto was barred on Thursday from entering the country at KLIA 2 and deported back to Indonesia.

As no clear reasons were given for barring him from entering into Malaysia, LFL said that it can only assume that he was barred due to his speaking engagement at Bersih’s #YellowMania forum, “People’s movement can bring change” on Thursday evening. “Other progressive activists like Hong Kong student leader Joshua Wong and Indonesian scholar Ulil Abshar Abdalla were also previously barred from entering Malaysia for no other reason than their speaking engagements.”

While immigration laws provide wide discretion for the immigration authorities to regulate the entry and departure of foreigners, said LFL in a statement, “they must be reminded that these powers must be exercised properly and not for any ulterior motives.”

Needless to say, said LFL, barring Mugiyanto from entering the country in order to prevent him from speaking at a civil society forum was clearly “an abuse of power and an overkill reaction to what should be the norm in a democratic state that values fundamental freedoms and exchange of ideas”.