Rights NGOs have slammed the barring of Malaysian Native Customary Rights (NCR) land activist Steven Ng from entering Sarawak as a move to shut out critics in the run up to the state election.

According to Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) and Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih), Ng was stopped by immigration officials at Kuching International Airport on April 3.

He was told that the state security department had instructions not to let him into the state.

azlan Ng received an official letter stating, “…pursuant to Section 65(i)(a) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, the State Authority has directed that no pass be issued to you to enter the State of Sarawak…” but was not given any reason for the entry ban.

The NGOs reported further that Sarawak immigration officers had tried to hand Ng to airport security but after the latter’s protest, agreed to let him fly back to Kuala Lumpur.

“We are concerned with this latest incident as it shows a continuing pattern of abuse of powers by the Sarawak government to stifle dissent by restricting freedom of movement for some Malaysian citizens on either entry to or exit from the state,” the NGOs said in a joint statement yesterday.

“There have been many cases of Sarawakians who have had their right to travel abroad denied and activists from Peninsular Malaysia who are barred from entering Sarawak.”

One such case is that of Jannie Lasimbang , a Sarawak native on a Penan fact-finding mission, who has been banned from entering the state.

'Abuse of immigration'

The groups slammed the state government for politically-motivated “blatant abuses” of its special immigration privileges granted under the 1963 agreement.

“The timing simon sipaun of these recent cases, just weeks before the state election, raises suspicions that the BN-led state government is abusing its powers to shut out critics,” they said.

“Ex-Suhakam vice-chairperson Simon Sipaun (left) last December had cautioned that Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud would not hesitate to use the immigration powers of the state to keep ‘prying eyes’ out of the state.”

Suaram and Bersih called on the Human Rights Commission to address this “arbitrary abuse of the state's immigration autonomy” and to protect the right of Malaysians to freedom of movement within the country, in particular to the Borneo states.