Foreign Minister: Cambodian leader detained for ‘interview’

Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah (above) said Malaysian authorities only want to "interview" Cambodia opposition vice-president Mu Suchua who was detained last night.

He also denied that the Malaysian government is under pressure from Cambodia to arrest anyone deemed in opposition to Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

"I think the authorities, as far as I know, they simply want to interview her," Saifuddin told reporters in Parliament today.  

"They probably want to know what is her intention of coming, but as far as Wisma Putra is concerned, we are not in the position to deport people, and neither do we like doing that.

"We make our own decisions, not because of any requests or any kind of interference from foreign countries, so I think what the Immigration Department is doing is strictly speaking on our interests."

He acknowledged that Malaysia has received a request from Cambodia to deport "a certain number of people" but stressed that Putrajaya will make its own decisions.

"We have replied accordingly to the request, but we decide on our own," Saifuddin said.

When asked whether banned opposition party Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) founder Sam Rainsy (above) would be coming to Malaysia to meet him, Saifuddin said that was not in the pipeline.

Mu Sochua, who is CNRP vice-president, was detained by Immigration when she arrived in Kuala Lumpur last night.

Both Sam Rainsy and Mu Sochua are self-exiled from Cambodia, though they had planned to return to Cambodia on Saturday, which is Cambodia's independence day.

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