Comment : Sue Taib if you were banned from Sarawak

TAIB MAHMUD : His common practice
is to bar any politician outside Sarawak
entering the state. He abuses his power
by wrongly using this privileged for his
personal interest and to protect his
corrupt practices in Sarawak. The acts of
Taib Mahmud are favoured and protected
by PM Najib Razak and ruling UMNO/BN
in Malaysia.

By Awang Abdillah

Sarawak has no right to bar West Malaysians with proper travel documents from entering the state unless they have been 'officially' classified as 'dangerous'.

We have witnessed over the years , prominent people from  West Malaysia who have been denied entry into Sarawak.

Despite having all the necessary travel documents and applying to enter the state  on a social visit pass, these people could not pass the immigration point upon the order from the Sarawak authorities.

Let us analyse the issues  involved. Firstly,  Article 9(2) of the Federal Constitution  pledges to uphold the democratic personal right of all Malaysians to travel and stay in any part of the country.

Secondly , the 1963 Malaysia Agreement recognises the need to protect the special rights of both the peoples of Sarawak and Sabah in respect of employment and economic opportunities from being taken away by West Malaysians.

Consequently the special provision to safeguard such interests was incorporated into the Malaysia Immigration Act under sections 62-66.

The special provision for Sarawak and Sabah is meant to regulate and control the entry of West Malaysians into the two states, who intend  to seek employment and carry out business activities there.

Hence, West Malaysians are required  to produce their passports or identity cards upon arrival and to apply for work permit if they wish to work in the two states.

It does not, however, give the two state governments  the outright power to bar or ban any individual West Malaysian from entering the two states  on a social visit.

Government violations

We have seen how the state government of Sarawak, through its immigration department, has from time to time imposed an outright and selective ban against certain personalities from entering Sarawak.

We can deduce that  such an action by the Sarawak government violates the following:

- Universal democratic personal right of all Malaysians

- The supremacy of the Federal Constitution

- The sanctity of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement and;

- Jostles the national spirit of 1Malaysia.

Let us examine how the act of barring and banning the said entry  can bring further detrimental  personal consequences to the affected victims.

To bar and to ban West Malaysians from entering the state, we have to first examine the type of actions applied by the Sarawak government in exercising this special power.

There are only two instances where the state authority can bar or impose a ban on West Malaysians upon entering the state.

Firstly the state immigration department can bar a West Malaysian visitor from entering the state if he has no proper travel and entry documents namely an international passport or an identity card.

If a West Malaysian possesses  these two documents, he should be entitled to a social visit pass. There is no way the immigration officers can bar him from entry .

Taib’s personal agenda

Under the same circumstances, if a foreigner has the legal documents namely the international passport and the relevant visa where necessary, he is also entitled  to a social visit pass to stay for a limited time in the state.

So if both the foreigner and the West Malaysian have the necessary documents, how can a foreigner be allowed into the state while the West Malaysian is barred? What kind of law is Chief Minister Taib Mahmud applying here ?

It is no more about the state special right but Taib’s personal agenda!

Secondly the state immigration department  may  ban a West Malaysian from entering the state despite having the necessary travel documents  provided he is blacklisted by the federal authorities for some security reasons or  declared  as a wanted person  by the police or considered as an unwanted element by society.

Such categorising  of individuals must be supported with proofs  or reports from the police or any authorised body.

Banning a person from entering a country or state is a serious matter and has adverse implications on one’s  reputation especially if the person is a prominent leader, politician, lawyer, activist and the like.

It gives the implication in the eyes of the nation that he has commited a serious crime against the government and people. Based on records, in all  cases, the persons involved all possess the proper travel documents and they are people of good reputation .

Hence to stop Taib from robbing the right of West Malaysians to travel  in the future, I  propose  that  visitors demand that the immigration officers  prove that the visitors do not possess the proper documents upon arrival at any check point before they can bar them.

The immigration officers must have documentary proof that the visitors have been officially  categorised as dangerous persons to the state before imposing an outright entry ban.

Secondly,  I propose that those who have been victims of the Chief Minister’s  abuse of the immigration powers, unite and start to file a joint libel suit against him and his subordinates for wrongful acts of barring and or banning them from entering the state.

(Awang Abdillah is a Kuching-based activist.)

Source : FMT