KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian government deported an Australian Senator after he criticized the government and reportedly participated in an illegal pro-democracy street protest in the Southeast Asian country last year. Independent Senator Nick Xenophon returned to Melbourne over the weekend after being booted from Malaysia. The incident has highlighted the growing tension between the two countries ahead of a general election in Malaysia scheduled to take place within the next few months. Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard said she was “surprised and disappointed” by the deportation. Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak has faced growing pressure from activists, who are calling for change to the country's electoral system. His party, Barisan Nasional, has been the ruling party since Malaysia became independent in 1957, but this year's election is expected to be the closest in the country's history as the opposition continues to gain support. Street protests last year led by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim have urged voter rolls to be cleaned up and allow wider absentee ballots as well as a campaigning period of more than three weeks in order to give the opposition adequate time to deliver their message to voters. “What they've done ironically is illustrate to the world how scared they are, and to bring attention to electoral issues as opposed to being seen as working to address them," Bridget Welsh, a political science associate professor at Singapore Management University, told Bloomberg news agency via telephone. “The electoral process is very important because the race has the potential to be very close." BN
