Keadilan vice-president Tian Chua will have yet another hurdle to clear after negotiating a legal maze, following his release from detention under the Internal Security Act (ISA) on Sunday.

For the last two years, he has had no contact with fiancee Mabel Au, who holds a Hong Kong passport.

Au was detained by immigration authorities upon arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in August 2001, four months after Tian was detained.

She was then deported on the grounds that her presence constituted a "threat to national security" and her immigration status remains unclear.

No official word

Contacted today, Au ( photo ) said she was still uncertain of her status as her attempts to obtain clarification from Malaysian immigration authorities have been met with silence thus far.

Following her deportation, the Hong Kong government had sent an inquiry letter on her behalf to the Malaysian consulate office on the island.

To date, she said, the Malaysian authorities have neither acknowledged nor responded to the request.

"If the circumstances allow for it, of course we would like to see each other. But I have to check on my official entry status," she said via telephone from Bangkok, where she has been working for a non-governmental organisation for the past two years.

"I want an official explanation of my detention for 13 hours and (subsequent) deportation...I have not tried to enter Malaysia (since the incident)."

Au said she was also uncertain whether Tian ( left ) would be able to visit her in Thailand upon release from remand.

He was taken from the Kamunting detention centre to the Taiping prison on Sunday and was transferred today to the Kajang prison, as he has to apply for bail in relation to several outstanding criminal charges filed since 1999.

"He still has some court cases pending so I don't know what his travel possibilities are like," Au said.

'Lost' mail

Asked how she had felt when told of his impending release, Au said she was "glad and happy" when informed of the development.

"At least he was not ordered to be detained for another two years. But it is a little strange and ridiculous at the same time, because he should not have had to give up his freedom over the past two years (in the first place)," she said.

"This could only have happened in Malaysia. It should not be so in a country which is considered to be a modern state."

Au claimed she had been virtually stopped from communicating with Tian during his detention period. She said the authorities may have confiscated all their mail.

"I have sent him lots of letters and cards but he has not received a single one of these. I do not believe that all of them could have gotten lost (in the post). He has also sent me letters but I have not received any," she said.

"I have only gotten messages from him through a third person. If he had something to say to me, he would tell his family members or lawyer, who would then pass me the message."

Tian and three co-detainees were released from detention on Sunday upon expiry of their two-year detention orders.

Of the four, only former Jemaah Islah Malaysia president and Keadilan supreme council member Saari Sungib was able to return home immediately from Kamunting.

Tian and film maker-cum- malaysiakini columnist Hishamuddin Rais will have to post bail to other charges before they can be released from custody.

Keadilan Youth chief Mohd Ezam Mohd Nor has been serving a two-year jail sentence since last August for breaching the Official Secrets Act and is due for release in December.

Two other reformasi activists - Lokman Nor Adam and Dr Badrulamin Baharon - are still being detained in Kamunting pending expiry of their detention orders on June 12.

The six were detained in April 2001 for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government by militant means, a charge they have denied.