Activist who railed against Azam deported from Sabah, denied reunion with wife, kids

 

When Asraf Sharafi Azhar boarded a flight headed to Kota Kinabalu yesterday evening, he was looking forward to one thing: reuniting with his wife and two children, all three of whom are Sabahans.

However, upon arriving at the airport at 7pm, the Bersih director - who is from the peninsula - did not receive a warm welcome.

Instead, Asraf was informed that he had been placed on a Sabah warning list and would be barred from entering the state. He was later deported to Kuala Lumpur.

The deportation came hours after Asraf and other activists marched to Parliament to hand over a memorandum urging the government to establish a royal commission of inquiry to investigate the “corporate mafia” allegations involving the MACC.

"After a month in Kuala Lumpur, discussing reform matters and the submission of a memorandum calling for the establishment of an RCI into the corporate mafia, which only concluded this morning, I was supposed to be embracing my children and wife in Sabah tonight.

"But perhaps this is the test that has been set. My name has been placed on the Sabah warning list. I have been barred from entering Sabah after 18 years of travelling back and forth, including after marrying a woman from Sabah and having two children.

"The voices of my children waiting to see their father, only to be disappointed, still ring in my ears. I am still silent, trying to comfort my wife.

“It is true what people say - the price of struggle is high, especially for wives and children," he said on Facebook last night.

Activists marching to Parliament on June 30 demanding an RCI into ‘corporate mafia’ allegations

Explain restrictions

In a statement last night, Bersih's steering committee demanded an explanation from the state administration.

"Bersih is urging the Sabah government to explain the basis for this action and to lift any unjustified restrictions imposed on Asraf," the statement read.

The electoral watchdog also strongly rejected what it described as another form of intimidation and a restriction on fundamental freedoms against activists exercising their lawful rights, following Asraf’s entry ban.

Sabah and Sarawak have control over immigration in their states - which includes the power to bar individuals from the peninsula from entering.

Critics have long accused those controlling the Borneo states of abusing that power to block activists and politicians critical of the government. - Mkini