On his return from Kuala Lumpa Nick Xenophon has rounded on the Australian government for its lack-lustre response to his deportation, and for dismissing what he calls systemic flaws in the Malaysia’s “mature democracy.”
Foreign Minister Bob Carr called the South Australian Senator’s detention and deportation last weekend as “surprising and disappointing” but fell short of harsher words for the Malaysian government’s actions.
Xenophon was part of a cross-party delegation invited to Malaysia by the organisation Bersih (the Malay word for ‘clean’) – an umbrella organisation of 82 civil society groups calling for free and fair elections in the country.
Bersih’s itinerary for the MPs included meetings with the Malaysian Government and Opposition in addition to Malaysia’s Electoral Commission.
The delegation was to include ALP MP Steve Georganas, Liberal MP Mal Washer and Nationals’ Senator John Williams, all of whom cancelled their trip on hearing of Xenophon’s detention.
“I’m very disappointed with the Foreign Minister’s response,” said Xenophon, speaking to Neos Kosmos in Melbourne, “I thought the reaction was pathetic”.
With some commentators criticising the independent senator for cherry-picking Malaysia as a flawed democracy in the Asia Pacific region, when a host of contenders for that title are available including Cambodia and Vietnam, Xenophon says his critics miss the point.
“The difference is, you cannot reasonably say Vietnam and Cambodia are described by the Australian government as mature democracies. Here we have the Australian government calling Malaysia a mature democracy. Well cheeses can be mature but they can be really smelly as well.”
South Australian Labor Senator Penny Wong speaking to the ABC this week, didn’t hesitate to play the “mature democracy” card, saying that it was “rare for Australia to engage, particularly with mature democracies, around their internal democratic process”.
But a different reaction to Xenophon’s treatment hit a raw nerve across the political divide and at the highest levels.
Former PM and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd criticised Carr’s statements, telling reporters that Xenophon’s treatment was unacceptable and that the federal government’s response should have been “robust”. Alexander Downer called the deportation “a big mistake” and that it would reinforce negative perceptions in Australia.
An opinion piece written jointly by Xenophon and MP Michael Danby – Chairman of the Joint Standing Committee of Foreign Affairs and Trade – said that the deportation undermined Malaysia’s “pretence to be a democratic law-based society”.
The text went on to be unequivocally critical of Danby’s ALP ministerial colleague.
“The Foreign Minister asks how appropriate is it for Australia to have a role in another country’s elections, in the absence of that country’s government making a specific request. Our answer was a definite yes with Burma, Timor and Fiji.
“Moreover, there is a danger in the Foreign Minister’s apparent support for the current controversial electoral rorting in Malaysia, of similarities with Australia’s past fawning over Indonesia’s Suharto regime in the three decades up to the 1990’s.”
The co-authored text went on to detail how an international observer group visited Malaysia in April 2012 and concluded that there were “legitimate concerns over the robustness of Malaysia’s democracy, including massive gerrymandering, electoral roll fraud, and intimidation of voters”.
Representatives of that group, from India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, Germany – as well as Australia – “all reached these conclusions after meeting with Government and Opposition MPs, the Electoral Commission and Bersih”.
Xenophon and Danby do give Australia’s Foreign Minister one attribute: consistency.
“To be fair, Bob Carr’s pronouncements are consistent with his previous views that Malaysia’s elections are really none of our business.
“In one sense he is right – Australia shouldn’t be interfering in the domestic affairs of another country. But this isn’t about interference. It’s about having consistent principles in the region,” says the jointly authored text.
“Just as Bob Carr has been outspoken about democratic reform in Myanmar and for the end of military rule in Fiji, he should lead by his (own) example with Malaysia.”
Xenophon and Danby’s statement ends with a reminder that last November Malaysia’s Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim – who spent six years in solitary confinement on trumped-up sodomy and corruption charges that were eventually overturned – sent an impassioned plea to Carr saying that Australia was Malaysia’s last best hope in the region as an advocate for clean and fair elections.
Carr’s response was that unless an invitation came from the Malaysian government to take a role in elections, Australia was powerless to intervene; a position that Xenophon and Danby’s opinion piece finds unconvincing.
“Instead of even raising these concerns with the Commonwealth Secretariat (given both Australia and Malaysia are members) the Foreign Minister was dismissive.
“By referring to Malaysia as a ‘mature democracy’, the Foreign Minister seems to be ignoring not just the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, but in effect has seemingly endorsed the current regime.”
This month the Australian government admitted that Malaysia still had not agreed to strengthen human rights protections for asylum seekers under the people-swap deal between the two nations agreed in 2011 – a plan that was subsequently quashed by the Australian High Court and is still on hold.
While some in the Australian media have chosen to describe Xenophon’s involvement with Malaysian politics as “grandstanding”, the South Australian Senator dismisses such slurs.
“This is not about me. Let’s put this in perspective,” he told Neos Kosmos.
“There is a veneer of democracy in Malaysia, and it’s being supported by the Australian government.
“The next election in Malaysia needs to be monitored by the international community because there is a widespread risk of election fraud and this could be done by the UN or the Commonwealth Secretariat.”
Xenophon says that there are lessons to be learned from his most recent invitation to Malaysia, his deportation, and the reaction to it.
“This highlights the pleas from Malaysians that in their next election, Australia should play a role – as it has done in other countries in the region – to help ensure democratic freedoms.
“Our failure to help one of our closest friends would reveal a moral vacuum at the heart of our foreign policy. For Australia to turn a blind eye to those pleas would be a disgrace.”