Patrick Lee | September 29, 2011
Free Malaysia Today
PETALING JAYA: Human rights activist Haris Ibrahim has been denied entry into Sarawak and is currently awaiting deportation.
Haris, the Malaysian Civil Liberties Movement (MCLM) president, said that he was detained by Sarawak immigration authorites after landing at the Kuching International Airport at about 5.30pm today.
“The order of notification is the same as the one in April (this year). (But) I haven’t seen any papers (about this deportation) yet,” he told FMT through a telephone conversation.
He will be sent back to KLIA on a 7.30pm flight.
“They asked me to pay for the air fare but I told them to ask (Sarawak CM) Taib Mahmud for it,” he said.
Haris also said that his trip to Kuching today was to host an MCLM event known as the Rakyat Reform Agenda (RARA).
He added that MCLM had held similar RARA events in both Tawau and Kota Kinabalu prior to Kuching.
Haris was barred from entering the state in April this year during the Sarawak state election. At the time, it was believed that he was stopped from entering Sarawak under Section 65 of the Immigration Act 1959/1963.
Under the Malaysia Agreement, Sarawak has the power to bar anyone from entering the state, including persons from Peninsular Malaysia.