The voter-canvassing program conducted on behalf of Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama caused jitters in neighboring Singapore over the weekend, as the city state’s immigration authorities denied entry to two cofounders of Teman Ahok (Friends of Ahok) on Saturday.

Early reports suggested that the two Teman Ahok founding members, Amalia Ayuningtyas and Richard Handris Saerang, had been arrested soon after arriving in the country on suspicion that they planned to hold a political gathering.

Responding to the news, Teman Ahok coordinator Aditya Yogi Prabowo demanded the Singaporean authorities release the two and threatened to hold a rally and use all of Teman Ahok’s resources to secure their release from detention.

The Indonesian Embassy in Singapore later issued a clarification stating that the two were not under arrest and they had only been subjected to interrogation by the immigration authorities.

“The Indonesian Embassy coordinated with the Singaporean authorities to help them get on a flight on June 4. But due to technical issues, they were unable to depart for Jakarta on their Garuda Indonesia flight, so we secured seats for them on Garuda’s first flight on June 5,” the Indonesian Embassy said in a statement published on Sunday.

The embassy said the Singaporean immigration authorities had treated the two activists well and had provided them with proper accommodation while they waited for their flight home.

The Singaporean Embassy in Indonesia issued an official statement saying that the two, in an interview with immigration officials on Saturday, acknowledged that they planned to hold a political event and were aware that this was in violation of the country’s law.

“They informed the immigration authorities that they were in Singapore to conduct political activities including raising campaign funds. They were therefore denied entry into Singapore and arrangements were made for them to return to Indonesia,” the embassy said in a statement.

It also said that Singapore had a strict law against foreigners engaging in political activities in the country. “Singapore has always taken a strong stand against the importation of foreign politics into Singapore. We will not allow foreigners to use Singapore as a platform to conduct any political activities. Any contravention of this by any individual will be dealt with in accordance with our laws,” the statement said.

Speaking at a press conference upon her return to Indonesia, Amalia denied that she had planned to stage a political event in Singapore and said that she was in the country only in response to an invitation from a group of Indonesian expatriates living in Singapore to attend an Indonesian food festival.

An organizer of the food festival, who wished to remain anonymous, backed up Amalia’s statement.

The activists, however, acknowledged that there was indeed a plan to stage a vote-canvassing event for Ahok, including the sale of Teman Ahok merchandise as well as collecting copies of ID cards of attendees who were Indonesian nationals.

“There was a suggestion [to hold an Ahok-related event] and one designer apparently designed [flyers] for the event. However, after learning that such an event would be banned we quickly asked the designer to revise it. We respect the law of Singapore,” he said.

Also in the press conference, Amalia said the problem was exacerbated by the slow response of the Indonesian Embassy in Singapore. She said that officials from the embassy were late in providing assistance as Sunday was their day off.

“If they had been with us, I believe things would have been a lot easier,” she said.

In January this year, Malaysia deported human rights activist Mugiyanto Sipin as he attempted to enter that country to attend an event organized by the pro-democracy Bersih 2.0 coalition. (fac)
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