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| Malaysia Denies Entry to Joshua Wong, Hong Kong Democracy Activist | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Joshua Wong, a prominent democracy activist from Hong Kong, was denied entry into Malaysia on Tuesday in what critics call an act of political censorship by the Malaysian government. | Joshua Wong, a prominent democracy activist from Hong Kong, was denied entry into Malaysia on Tuesday in what critics call an act of political censorship by the Malaysian government. |
| Mr. Wong was scheduled to speak at forums hosted by Malaysian youth activist groups in cities across the country from Tuesday to Friday. Mr. Wong said that Malaysian immigration officers at Penang International Airport on Tuesday told him that a “government order” barred him from entering the country. | Mr. Wong was scheduled to speak at forums hosted by Malaysian youth activist groups in cities across the country from Tuesday to Friday. Mr. Wong said that Malaysian immigration officers at Penang International Airport on Tuesday told him that a “government order” barred him from entering the country. |
| In a statement released Tuesday evening, Mr. Wong, 18, said he was prepared to speak on democracy in China and to share with the Malaysian audience his experience during the Umbrella Movement, a large, student-led protest in Hong Kong last year demanding a free election of the city’s leader. | |
| Eric Paulsen, co-founder of the Malaysian civil-rights group Lawyers for Liberty, said that the Malaysian government was trying to contain the influence Mr. Wong might have had on the country’s young people, who — dissatisfied with a rising cost of living and rampant corruption, he said — have been increasingly active in street protests since the beginning of the year. | Eric Paulsen, co-founder of the Malaysian civil-rights group Lawyers for Liberty, said that the Malaysian government was trying to contain the influence Mr. Wong might have had on the country’s young people, who — dissatisfied with a rising cost of living and rampant corruption, he said — have been increasingly active in street protests since the beginning of the year. |
| The authorities “fear ideas and independent thought, especially from the youth,” Mr. Paulsen said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. But the move was “extremely foolish,” he said, “as the publicity would certainly now generate more interest in what he has to say,” albeit through a different medium. | The authorities “fear ideas and independent thought, especially from the youth,” Mr. Paulsen said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. But the move was “extremely foolish,” he said, “as the publicity would certainly now generate more interest in what he has to say,” albeit through a different medium. |
| Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the minister of home affairs of Malaysia, said that he had no knowledge that Mr. Wong had been denied entry into the country and that he would consult the director general of immigration on the issue, according to a report by Malaysiakini, an online news outlet. | Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, the minister of home affairs of Malaysia, said that he had no knowledge that Mr. Wong had been denied entry into the country and that he would consult the director general of immigration on the issue, according to a report by Malaysiakini, an online news outlet. |
| The forums in Malaysia, hosted by youth activist groups including the Malaysia Youth & Student Democratic Movement, are to commemorate the 26th anniversary of the June 1989 crackdown around Tiananmen Square in Beijing. | |
| In a statement, the Malaysian Working Group on the 26th Anniversary of June 4 — anumbrella organization for the groups — protested what it called the authorities’ “deliberate political suppression.” | |
| “Amid ever closer economic and political ties between Malaysia and China, we hope that both governments can treat dissenters with tolerance, respecting human rights and freedom,” it said, adding that the commemorative events this week would go on. | “Amid ever closer economic and political ties between Malaysia and China, we hope that both governments can treat dissenters with tolerance, respecting human rights and freedom,” it said, adding that the commemorative events this week would go on. |