PETALING JAYA: Some 20 people, 16 of them Malaysians, including Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioner Chris Leong, were detained by Indonesian authorities recently in Palembang for allegedly violating their tourist visas.
Sumatera's Office of the Ministry of Law and Human Rights head Sudirman D Hury said the authorities, in a joint effort with several state agencies, arrested the individuals in a four-star hotel in Palembang.
He said while 16 of the individuals detained were Malaysians, there were also two Hong Kong nationals, one Irish and one Belgian citizen.
Sudirman said based on the interviews carried out by the authorities, 17 of the individuals were volunteers of the Chris Leong Method (CLM) agency based in Malaysia.
He said among the 17 individuals volunteering in CLM, one of them was Chris Leong himself.
According to Antara News Sumsel, Sudirman was quoted as saying that these individuals had allegedly abused their visas by carrying out therapeutic services in the country.
The group claimed to be carrying out "charity work" in the country, but according to the Indonesian news agency, the patients who visited the group paid 4.5mil rupiah (RM1,300) for the services.
"On the next course of action, these individuals will be deported back to their respective countries," he said this in a press conference in Palembang, Indonesia.
The Star had made attempts to contact CLM to get comments on the situation, but did not manage to get any response.
However, a check on Leong's Facebook showed that Leong was in Palembang.
His Facebook page, which has over 1.2 million followers, contains videos of Leong helping people with frozen shoulders and back problems.
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