The Malaysian authorities are puzzled as to why second-year medical student Firdaus Muhammed Nordin was detained at a Russian airport and later deported.

Several government departments contacted today said that no explanation has been given by the Russian authorities over the Sept 2 incident.

According to news reports, Firdaus was detained for 10 hours without food at the Domodedovo International Airport, Moscow (photo) after a spending a month-long semester break in Malaysia.

His father, Muhammed Nordin, claims that Russian immigration denied Firdaus entry and cancelled his visa, because of the Arabic-sounding word "Muhammed" in his name, resulting in suspicion that Firdaus was a possible terrorist.

A friend of Firdaus promptly contacted the Malaysian embassy during his detention. However, embassy officials were unable to aid him in time.

Miscommunication?

Contacted today, representative from the Malaysian Embassy in Moscow, Saiful Izhar Senawi, denied allegations that the embassy dragged their feet during the day of the incident.

"Firdaus' friend (Azri) didn't say that he was being detained. He did not request that we prove Firdaus is a Malaysian student at the airport. I did not know he was detained," said Saiful.

Saiful explained that Azri had told him over the phone that Firdaus was "missing" at the airport and wanted him to pass a message to Firdaus should the latter call.

Attempts to reach Azri and Firdaus on Sept 3 were futile. When Saiful called the airport, he was told there were "no news" regarding Firdaus.

It was only when Saiful contacted the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Malaysia did he find out that Firdaus was already on a flight back to Malaysia.

Procedures

The embassy was never notified of the incident by the detainee nor the Russian immigration, which Saiful said should be the normal procedure.

"In deportation cases, the cancellation of visa is the right of the host country. It is normal," he said.

According to him, embassy officials would only be present to assist students at the airport immigration if it was their first time in the country.

A report by the embassy on the incident has been forwarded to the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Malaysia.

Ministry to probe

Meanwhile, a representative from the Foreign Affairs Ministry who declined to be named, said that investigation was launched to probe "all angles" of the incident, immediately after receiving a complaint report from Muhammed Nordin (right) on Sept 7.

However, the spokesperson declined to elaborate on details but assured that the ministry is looking into the matter as it was very concerned about the matter.

Meanwhile, Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) student sponsorship division representative Hanisah Omar said that the organization would not reimburse any of Firdaus' subsequent flight ticket

"He (the father) was not satisfied because he wanted reimbursement for his son's flight ticket which costs more than RM5,000," she said adding that Mara will only pay the first trip for any student to their destination country of study.

Not the first time

"Immigration (of Russia) did not inform us the specific reasons why he (Firdaus) was detained," she said, adding that Firdaus was detained for 10 hours to wait for the next available flight to Malaysia.

Hanisah added that Firdaus had a similar experience the first time he arrived in Russia last year. However the matter was resolved as embassy officials managed to prove his status as a student at the Russian immigration.

As a result, she said that Mara and the embassy has advised Firdaus not to return to Malaysia without first informing them.

"He went back without informing us. When there is a problem like this only they come and tell us," she explained.

Hanisah confirmed that Firdaus's visa was cancelled before he was deported from Moscow. However, applications for a fresh student visa have already been made before Sept 7.