Malaysian immigration has detained Umbrella revolution activist Joshua Wong shortly after he arrived at Penang airport this morning.

Wong, who was featured on the cover of Time magazine as the face of Hong Kong's uprising against China, told organisers for his speaking engagements in the capital that he was to be deported for unknown reasons. 

"A government officer said he received orders that I cannot come in and that I must take the next flight out," said Wong to the organiser through telephone. A copy of the phone recording was made available to Malaysiakini .

Wong ( photo ), who claimed he was dragged away by immigration officers, was heard arguing with them, shouting, "don't use violence".

The 18-year-old activist had arrived on Dragonair Flight KA633 at Penang International Airport at 11.55am.

He was put back on the same Dragonair aircraft under Flight KA634 back to Hong Kong which was scheduled to leave at 12.55pm.

Wong was due to hold a series of talks this week about the student movement, in which Malaysiakini is a media partner.

Popular uprising

In June last year, Wong led a mass student movement which grew into a popular uprising in wider Hong Kong to demand for genuine elections in the former British colony.

China had promised Hong Kong to allow its people to vote for their chief executive by 2017 but later said they could only vote from a group of people handpicked by Beijing.

The uprising, which later came to be known as the umbrella revolution, demanded for a direct election without having to go through screening by Beijing.

Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi ( photo ) described Wong's deportation as a matter of "national security".

Malaysia has cordial ties with China and has been unwilling to offend Beijing.

In January last year, Reuters reported that three Chinese ships entered the James Shoal, coming within 80km of Sarawak. 

According to international law, a country's sovereignty extends 370km (200 nautical miles) out to sea as part of the exclusive economic zone of a country.

However, Malaysia did not file a protest over the intrusion nor did it acknowledge the incident.

Instead, it was Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Qin Gang who confirmed the incident to the Singapore media, stressing that the territory is an "indisputable sovereignty" of China and pointed out that Malaysia did not lodge any official protest, according to Singapore Straits Times .

China has been at odds with several countries surrounding the South China Sea as Beijing claims large swathes of the oil-rich region as its own.

Countries like Vietnam and Philippines has had skirmishes with the Chinese maritime but are wary of escalating any conflict with the superpower.

The US, a close ally of the Philippines, is the only country willing to challenge China.

Last week, the US flew a spy plane over vast reclamation areas which Beijing is developing in the South China Sea to strengthen its claims over the region and extend its own exclusive economic zone.

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