Cambodia’s exiled opposition leader Sam Rainsy barred from flying to Indonesia
- Rainsy, who now lives in France, had hoped to return to Cambodia on Saturday but is currently in Malaysia
- Cambodian leader Hun Sen has pressured countries in the region to bar the opposition figurehead
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Rainsy, who has lived in France since 2015 to avoid jail for convictions he says are politically motivated, and other members of his party are seeking to return to Cambodia to unite pro-democracy supporters.
But Hun Sen – who has ruled Cambodia for more than three decades – has described their planned return as a coup bid, threatened them with arrest and urged neighbouring countries to help thwart the exiles.
Rainsy failed to make it to Cambodia by Saturday, as he had pledged, but got to Malaysia and vowed to stay in the region and seek to get home.
On Wednesday afternoon he was barred from boarding a flight at Kuala Lumpur airport to the Indonesian capital Jakarta, where he had planned to spend several days.
“Malaysia Airlines denied boarding of (Rainsy) under the instruction of the Indonesian authorities,” the airline said in a statement.
Tian Chua, a vice-president of the People’s Justice Party, part of Malaysia’s ruling coalition, and a friend of Rainsy’s, said that the opposition figure was “barred from Jakarta”.
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Indonesian immigration department spokesman Sam Fernando confirmed that Rainsy was not in the country – but he denied that authorities had barred him from entering.
Denny Abdi, director of the Southeast Asia division of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, said: “We are not aware of him coming to Jakarta.”
Rainsy and other members of his Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) did not immediately respond to requests to comment.
Last week Rainsy was blocked from boarding a flight in Paris to Thailand, where he hoped to cross into Cambodia, forcing him instead to fly to Malaysia.
His party was dissolved ahead of elections last year, paving the way for the ruling party to win all the seats in parliament.
Sam Rainsy lands in Malaysia as Hun Sen’s government vows to ‘destroy him’
After facing international pressure over the opposition crackdown, Hun Sen at the weekend released Kem Sokha, the co-founder of the CNRP, from house arrest. He was charged with treason in 2017.
Earlier on Wednesday, the co-founder and acting president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party tweeted a photo of himself and two other party officials at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport holding their suitcases.
Above the photo, the tweet read, “Sam Rainsy and two other CNRP officials (and elected MPs) are arriving at Jakarta Soekarno Hatta International Airport (Terminal 3) at 17.30 by MH723”.
Additional reporting by Kyodo and Reuters
