Malaysian filmmaker Isa Batharul Zaman, better known as Isa Isarb, claims he was detained by Indonesian authorities and accused of being a Malaysian spy while filming a documentary about the haze and forest fires.
Isa said he was in Indonesia to produce a documentary on the haze when he stopped near an area affected by forest fires, where protests were taking place.
He claimed between 10 and 15 officers approached him and asked whether he was “Isa Batharul”, a name he said made him uneasy because he was not commonly recognised by his birth name.
“We were then arrested for allegedly misusing our tourist visas. We were told that our visas did not allow us to film or be present at demonstrations,” he was quoted as saying by Sinar Harian today.
Isa said he was taken to a police station for questioning, where officers asked him to explain the real purpose of his visit to Indonesia. He was subsequently held in a lockup overnight.
According to Isa, authorities accused him of being a spy the following day, citing his conversations with several Malaysian politicians as part of their suspicions.
“The conversations they referred to were between me and the Malaysian deputy prime minister’s team, as well as Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil.
“Those conversations were related to interviews I had sought for the documentary I was filming,” he said.
He added that an invitation to Parliament earlier that week had also raised suspicions during the interrogation.
“I was invited there solely to interview the MP. The location was chosen to accommodate his busy schedule, especially since he had recently got married,” he said, referring to Syed Saddiq.
Isa claimed he was eventually allowed to return to Malaysia because of the strong diplomatic relations between Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta.
He plans to release the documentary on his YouTube channel on November 16, after the Melaka state election.
However, he stressed that he did not want the incident to be turned into a political issue.
