PETALING JAYA - A furious Nurul Izzah turned the heat on Prime Minister Najib Razak and Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman for blocking her from entering the East Malaysian state to celebrate a cultural festival with her supporters.
The 33-year-old daughter of Opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim demanded that the embattled Najib, who is trying recover his political balance after eking out the worst-ever electoral results for his Umno-BN coalition, and the corruption-tainted Musa Aman explain to the nation why Opposition politicians were being stopped and forcibly deported when illegal immigrants were allowed to zip in and out freely.
Nurul, the Member of Parliament for Lembah Pantai, also demanded that the duo come clean on whether it was true there was a ban on Pakatan Rakyat leaders including Anwar, DAP adviser Lim Kit Siang and several others from entering Sabah, where the Opposition has been making serious inroads.
"Nobody is questioning the state government's right, I am not questioning the state government's right. My point here is the politicization and abuse of power, the politicization of security. You have to understand under Section 67 of the Immigration Act, it is clearly stated I am there for a legitimate activity, no one can stop me including the state. If you are against our entry, sure, but give us a reasonable justification, a rationale for doing so. I have attended Hari Keamatan every year and I have never failed to do so. I completely reject this high-handedness by the Chief Minister and I completely blame him," Nurul told a press conference on Friday upon her return to Kuala Lumpur.
"I am told many others will be barred from entry and can you imagine, you cannot even disclose this (list of names) to the public. I am sure this will be echoed in Sarawak but my point is, this has to be condemned. I applaud the Member of Parliament for Kinabatangan for coming out courageously and I hope he can put some sense into the leadership of Sabah. Somehow Najib has to be involved. We are talking about this taking place when the Sabah RCI shows staggering numbers of illegal immigrants, foreign workers naturalized as citizens overnight. This is the problem in Sabah. They have just established 3 security centres for ESSCOM. Should that not be the concern? I don't see why there should be any linkage as to why I or YB Tian Chua or Anwar Ibrahim and scores of others should be targeted. We are not question the law or the 20-points agreement for Sabah and the 18-points agreement for Sarawak."
Big mistake and disaster
Nurul was referring to Bung Mokhtar, the Umno MP for Kinabatangan, who had warned his party it would be a "mistake and disaster" not to allow the popular Nurul and other Pakatan leaders into the state.
“I believe this is a big mistake… and it needs to be corrected. I don’t understand why Nurul was not allowed to enter Sabah. If it’s true, then this is a mistake and a disaster,” Bung, an Umno supreme council member, said on Twitter.
Nurul was turned back upon her arrival at the Kota Kinabalu Airport around 6.45pm via Air Asia on Thursday, May 30. She was due to return to Kuala Lumpur on the evening of May 31.
"The Sabah Immigration Department had informed her that the Chief Minister's department had decided to bar her and many more personalities from Peninsula Malaysia from entering Sabah henceforth," Darrell Leiking, the newly-elected MP for Penanmpang, said in a statement sent to Malaysia Chronicle.
Legal action against Musa Aman: I will miss Sabah
According to Nurul, she will be taking legal action against Musa for abuse of power and Darrell will file the suit in Kota Kinabalu.
Nurul also lambasted the Chief Minister for targeting political rivals even though they were citizens and legitimate leaders, while doing not enough to resolve Save Sabah's long drawn-out problem of being swamped by illegal immigrants, who have been blamed for the myriad social and security problems there.
"It flies in the face of PM Najib Razak's promise of national reconciliation. And I think Malaysians must reject this show of high-handedness, that just because you fear the encroachment of Pakatan Rakyat in rural areas especially in East Malaysia. It is completely unacceptable, how can you do this?," said Nurul.
"Regardless of my expectation, I will continue to pester and demand because this is completely unacceptable and they should not be allowed to escape," Nurul added, when asked what sort of response, if any, she expected from Najib and Musa.
"I really will miss Sabah. It is a beautiful state," she jested towards the end of the press conference.
Malaysia Chronicle
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