Ambiga barred from entering Sarawak
(FMT) The Bersih 2.0 chairperson was told she cannot enter the state on orders of the Chief Minister’s Office.
KUALA LUMPUR: Bersih 2.0 chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan was today barred from entering Sarawak, on the eve of the state election. This is the fourth such incident in the past two weeks.
Ambiga, a former Bar Council president, landed in Kuching at about 9am, but was told she could not proceed.
She said that she had been informed she had been barred following orders from Chief Minister Taib Mahmud’s office.
No further reason was given.
“I told the authorities that under Section 67 of the Immigration Act, I should be allowed to enter if there were legitimate political reasons to do so. They told me that they didn’t know anything about it.”
Ambiga described the treatment of activists as “appalling”, questioning why the state government did not see fit to allow them entrance.
“We as Malaysians should be allowed entrance to the other states of our own nation. I’m anxious to find out what they are trying to hide by doing this.”
Under the Malaysia Agreement, Sarawak has the power to bar anyone from entering the state, including citizens from Peninsular Malaysia.
Last Friday, political activist and academic Wong Chin Huat was sent back to Kuala Lumpur.
Read more at: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/04/15/ambiga-barred-from-entering-sarawak/
