Much ado about nothing
Sheridan said Xenophon was over-enthusiastic in his involvement in Malaysian politics, adding that he should instead visit Vietnam or Cambodia if he really cares about democracy in Southeast Asia.
Tay Tian Yan, Sin Chew Daily
Xenophon, a weirdly sounding name that should make a good candidate for the namesake of Samsung’s next generation of smartphones.
But of course, Xenophon is not a phone. He is a senator from Down Under.
If not because he was barred from entering the country through the LCCT, and was sent off on the next plane, not many people would have the slightest idea who Nick Xenophon is.
His deportation, along with a pathetic-looking self portrait taken at the airport, has caused quite a stir.
Incensed by the move of the Malaysian authorities, Australia’s politicians have launched aggressive assaults on Malaysia. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has sided the senator despite their lukewarm relationship.
Who on earth is this Nick Xenophon? Is he the one the Malaysian government said “threatening our national security” and must be deported at once?
I asked a friend returning from Australia about this man, and was told Xenophon is just one of the 200-odd senators in Australia. Never a big shot himself, he is nevertheless unusual in that he is an independent senator who does things his own way, unbound by any political entity.
Although he is no celebrity in Australia, he has somewhat developed an affinity for Malaysian politics, having hammered the country’s human rights records on Australian papers. A strong opponent of Malaysian palm oil, he made a personal trip to Kuala Lumpur last year in his capacity as Bersih 3.0 observer.
Not fully contented with my friend’s account on Xenophon, I visited The Australian website for a better insight into this man from the Australian perspectives.
The Australian‘s foreign editor Greg Sheridan wrote in his op-ed “Nick Xenophon’s grandstanding does us no good” that his “actions regarding Malaysia are either foolish or cynically self-promoting.”
Sheridan said Xenophon was over-enthusiastic in his involvement in Malaysian politics, adding that he should instead visit Vietnam or Cambodia if he really cares about democracy in Southeast Asia.
Although Xenophon’s style and stance could send the Malaysian government neurotic, sending him off and branding him “a threat to national security” are both oversensitive and impractical.
While the government is legally justified to act this way, it needs to demonstrate some degree of self-confidence in exercising its sovereignty and jurisdiction. Moreover, if we bother about how democratic we are, we should not handle diplomatic matters with such a restrictive frame of mind.
Even as we reject Xenophon’s subjective views, we should refrain from such a hardline stance in responding to his presence..
To show our magnanimity, perhaps the government should allow him to come into the country, speak all he wants to speak and do all he wants to do, so long as he does not act beyond our laws.
To be honest, given our already distinctly polarised political environment, there is hardly anything Xenophon can do to tip the balance.
