Prominent Singaporean law lecturer Kevin Tan has been barred by the police from speaking at a forum in Petaling Jaya tonight, ostensibly due to technicalities involving his visa.

kevin tan He was supposed to be one of three speakers at the forum titled 'Wither the Constitution: Lessons to be learnt from the Perak crisis'.

According to forum organisers Merdeka Review , when they applied for a police permit, they were told that Tan must have clearance from the Malaysian Professional Centre (Ikhtisa).

A staff from the Chinese news portal went to the Immigration Department headquarters in Putrajaya today but was told that it would take seven days to process the permit.

'Never happened before'

Merdeka Review quoted Tan as saying that he had delivered talks in Malaysia several times before but never encountered such a ruling.

"If this is the situation, who would want to come and lecture in Malaysia in the future?

"Maybe they are afraid that my speech would put Malaysia in bad light," he added.

Tan said he would still attend the forum as a member of the audience. Constitutional expert Tommy Thomas would take his place.

Other speakers include law professor Shad Saleem Faruqi and diposed Perak menteri besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin.