Outright ban illegal, regardless of caretaker function

S'WAK POLLS The act of banning politicians from entering Sarawak is illegal, regardless of whether it was a caretaker government or an incumbent government which initiated the ban.

That is what the former and current Bersih chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan and Maria Chin Abdullah respectively have said.

"The banning does not apply... whether it is the caretaker government or not. Even before the election it is already an illegal act," Chin said to Malaysiakini when asked about the legality of a caretaker government exercising Sarawak's autonomy immigration rights.

She said the ban explicitly violated Section 67 of the Immigration Act, which states that a citizen cannot be restricted from entering an East Malaysian state "for the sole purpose of engaging in legitimate political activity".

"In my view, this is an outright violation of the Immigration Act itself.

"The act specifically provides for entry into Sarawak for political activity. I believe it was designed that way to stop exactly what the Sarawak Chief Minister (Adenan Satem) is now doing," Ambiga said to Malaysiakini.

The chief minister, she stressed, has acted illegally in banning opposition leaders from Sarawak.

She said he (Adenan) knew he could do this, because any challenge to the ban could only be concluded after the election and it would be pointless.

"Nevertheless, it says a lot about the chief minister and the methods he is resorting to in order to win this election. It is truly shameful," she added.

Meanwhile, Chin pointed out that Adenan should not be the Sarawak caretaker chief minister as he is contesting in this election.

A caretaker government must be managed by a neutral body where the persons involved are not part of the contest or campaign, she said.

"But in Malaysia, we have not spelled out having a caretaker government and and very unfortunately, the 'previous' government assumes that role.

"If you remember, the Election Commission (EC) did say that they will form a caretaker goverment with independent personnel but in the end, abandoned the idea with no explanation," she said.

Blatant breach

Meanwhile, BN risks being labelled an illegitimate government if it were to win the upcoming Sarawak state election, said civil society Rise of Sarawak Efforts (Rose).

This is because in a democracy, governments elected into power are deemed legitimate as a result of being there by the “will of the people”.

However, Rose noted that opposition parties and activists seem to have been encountering issues in entering and staying in the state.

"If so, this will certainly have an impact on manpower and resources of the political parties, who might be handicapped by such seemingly arbitrary and unreasonable restriction," the group said.

It also pointed out that Sarawak caretaker Chief Minister Adenan Satem had previously said that Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali would be allowed into the state after the election.

"One wonders how the state government can still say that this is not for political reasons or as quoted 'to keep unsavoury people out of Sarawak,'" it added.

Barring opposition leaders from entering the state has gone beyond keeping unsavoury or negative elements out of Sarawak, the group said.

It is now a blatant breach of Section 67 of the Immigration Act, it added.

Rose urged the state to act within the constitutional limits and remove all entry restrictions in the run-up to the state election on May 7.

Otherwise, it said, this election cannot be deemed a free or fair contest and will tarnish the image of the next government.

More than 40 opposition lawmakers, activists and academicians are on the Sarawak state government’s ban list, with the latest being PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar, who was first banned in December last year.

The state exercises immigration autonomy as part of the 1963 Malaysia Agreement. --Mkini