Yesterday’s banning of PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar from entering Sarawak by the Sarawak state government was another outrageous abuse of its immigration powers.
Under the Malaysia agreement, both Sabah and Sarawak were given the autonomy over immigration, but the original intention was for economic protection of the two states, that is to prevent the influx of economic migrants who will threaten the locals’ jobs.
The intention was not to allow the two state governments to use it as a political tool to deny entry of oppositions or civil society activists who want to conduct legitimate and lawful activities in the states.
The ban imposed by Sarawak state government on Nurul Izzah, myself, former Bar Council president, Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan(former Bar Council president) , Rafizi Ramli ( MP for Pandan ) , other oppositionist and activists shows Sarawak chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem’s clear abuse of the immigration powers.
Till today, I was never told why I was banned from Sarawak. Nurul Izzah, like me, are Members of Parliament who should be free to travel to any part of Malaysia, yet we have been banned by Sarawak state government for reasons which have not been revealed to us.
Nurul and I hold valid Malaysian passports which allow us to travel all over the world, yet we are prevented to travel to a state which is part of our own home county. How absurd and ridiculous.
We are certainly no security threat to Sarawak, neither are we economic threat to Sarawak. There can be no justification whatsoever for banning us and other oppositionists who want to conduct lawful political activities in Sarawak.
Is Sarawak chief minister so afraid of us that he is not prepared to fight the opposition fair and square at the coming general election?
Since becoming the Sarawak chief minister, Tan Sri Adenan Satem has tried to create the feel good feeling among the people with politically correct remarks on issues like United Examination Certificate and the importance of English language.
However, his continued abuse of the immigration powers clearly shows that he is not a true reformist but one who is still prepared to resort to authoritarian moves to suppress the opposition.