When I saw the Malaysiakini headline “MP denied entry into Sarawak”, it was déjà vu going back three decades.
Malaysiakini reported that Pakatan Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Member of Parliament N. Gobalakrishnan (Padang Serai) was denied entry into Sarawak by immigration officers at the Kuching international airport at about 5.30 pm yesterday.
Malaysiakini quoted Gobalakrishnan:
“The moment I reached the airport, immigration officers told me that I am not allowed to enter due to instructions from the state government.
“The immigration officer gave me a notice which reads ‘Tuan bukan rakyat Sarawak, tidak berhak untuk masuk ke Sarawak tanpa permit atau pas Akta Imigresen 1959-1963’ (You are not a citizen of Sarawak and are not eligible to enter Sarawak without a permit or immigration pass).”
Gobalakrishnan returned to Kuala Lumpur by an AirAsia flight later the same night.
This is a most deplorable and ominous development, portending to the bad old days when fundamental liberties and human rights of Malaysians were given short shrift!
This is what I said in Parliament 34 years ago on 9th November 1974:
“Mankind have dismantled the ‘Iron Curtain’, the ‘Bamboo Curtain’, but we in Malaysia are erecting the ‘Batik Curtain’ to separate Malaysians from Malaysians. We are coming to a stage where it will be easier for Opposition political leaders to visit Peking or Moscow than to visit Kota Kinabalu or Kuching!”
In that dark era of Malaysia, I was declared a “persona non grata” and prohibited from entering both Sarawak and Sabah to exercise my constitutional rights of legitimate politic al activities.
Is the end of the Abdullah era and the beginning of the Najib administration to see a sharp relapse in democratic and human rights of Malaysians?