TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Mugiyanto, senior program officer of human rights and international democracy at the Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID), was detained and deported by the Malaysian government. Mugiyanto had previously scheduled to speak in a discussion forum held by BERSIH 2.0, a Malaysian coalition for free and clean election.
"The action of the Malaysian government is clearly against ASEAN's commitment to uphold human rights," said INFID executive director Sugeng Bahagijo on Thursday, January 7, 2016.
In the discussion,Mugiyanto was supposed to speak about democratic experiences in Indonesia in the 1990s with Maria Chin Abdullah, activist of women's rights in Malaysa.
According to Sugeng, Mugiyanto was detained by the Malaysian authorities at 12:00 PM local time after he arrived at the Kuala Lumpur Airport.
In respone to the incident, Sugeng urged the government to send a protest note and demanded Malaysia to ensure freedom of speech in the country.
ANGGA SUKMAWIJAYA