A Chinese educationist who was banished from Sarawak for a year, attempted to return to the state to reunite with his family this week but was denied entry by the local immigration department.

Tan Seng Hin, 62, was held at the Miri Airport for eight hours when he arrived on Sunday night.

The officers later allowed him to meet his wife and two children for an hour before ordering him to leave the state on the next plane.

When contacted, Tan, who is now back in Kuala Lumpur, said he wanted to attend his 18-year-old son's graduation from a Chinese independent school in the state.

He said he was treated unfairly by the immigration department because despite several attempts since March, they have refused to grant him a social visit pass.

Malaysians born outside Sarawak and neighbouring Sabah are required to have a social visit pass in order to stay in the two states.

"They did not inform me what was the reason. I asked for an explanation from them many times but there was no reply," he said.

Tan, a businessman who was active in a Chinese clan association and several education groups, had lived in Sarawak for 23 years.

Security threat

He left the state on Dec 6, 2000 after being slapped with a deportation order. He was barred from re-entering the state for a year.

When the ban expired late last year, he returned to Sarawak on a two-week social visit pass. He left Sarawak, again, in January when his social visit pass discontinued.

When he tried to go back to Miri to celebrate Chinese New Year with his family in February, he was stopped at the airport and told to leave immediately.

Tan has since been living in Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur.

Deputy Home Affairs Minister Zainal Abidin Zin had labelled Tan a "security threat" without elaborating when his deportation was raised in Parliament last year.

However, the educationist has claimed that his deportation resulted from his objection against the state government's decision to change the teaching medium in two Miri Chinese independent schools from Mandarin to English.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued yesterday afternoon, human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) urged the relevant authorities to stop harassing Tan.

Describing the denial of entry as a "violation of basic human rights", the organisation said the state immigration department should allow Tan to enter the state immediately so that he could be reunited with his family after such a long separation.