Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar said she believes that PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim and DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang are on the Sabah immigration blacklist.

Nurul Izzah said this was alluded to by immigration officers who had stopped her from entering Sabah at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport last night.

    

"I suspect so. They (the immigration officers) were very mum when I asked a few questions, but I understand that they were following orders.

azlan "From what little that I got, (I learnt that) Anwar is included, and Lim Kit Siang as well. They said (Lim) was let in on a one-time pass only," she told reporters today.

Nurul Izzah - who was reportedly blocked upon instruction by Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman ( left ) - said she had been informed that a list of "activists and Pakatan Rakyat leaders" will also be blocked, although the officers refused to name anyone.

As such, the PKR vice-president, who was in Sabah to celebrate Kaamatan, will write to the Chief Minister's Office to officially complain and to request for the list to be made public.

"People have the right to know who are the people who are endangering Sabah," she said, adding that she was stopped under Section 67 of the Immigration Act 1959/63.

NONE She will also challenge the decision to block her in court, and a legal team headed by PKR's Penampang MP Darell Leiking is currently looking into the matter.

She said that the case will be filed in Kota Kinabalu, once the team is prepared.

She added that she has already been in touch with Bersih chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan ( right ), who had previously challenged the decision to bar the latter from Sarawak by Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud.

It is noted that Ambiga had failed in her bid as she had filed her case in the peninsular, and not in Sarawak.

She said it is important to challenge the barring so as to stop the continued "abuse of power".

'Not questioning 20-point agreement'

However, she stressed that she is not questioning the 20-point agreement which gives Sabah immigration powers.

"What we are questioning is its abuse for political reasons," she said.

She added that she has a right to enter Sabah under Section 66 of the Immigration Act, which allows Malaysians to enter Sabah for legitimate political activities.

Nurul Izzah - who is the first opposition leader to be barred from Sabah post-GE13 - said she does not discount the possibility that she and other Pakatan leaders have been barred to stop Pakatan from making inroads in the state.

NONE With 25 parliamentary seats, Sabah plays a crucial role in Pakatan's bid for Putrajaya and contributed only three parliamentary seats to the opposition coalition in the 13th general election.

“I don't discount it, but it proves my assertion that this is clearly an abuse of power and flies in the face of (Prime Minister) Najib (Abdul Razak)'s promise of national reconciliation.

"Malaysia should reject high-handedness simply because of a fear of Pakatan (making inroads) in rural areas. It is completely unreasonable," she noted.

Other activists and Pakatan leaders who have been barred from Sabah before include Anything But Umno (ABU) coordinator Haris Ibrahim, Bersih steering committee member Syukri Razab, PKR vice-president and Batu MP Tian Chua and PAS central committee member Mazlan Aliman.

Meanwhile, the Sabah Law Association (SLA), Advocates' Association of Sarawak (AAS) and the Malaysian Bar have urged the Sabah government to rescind the entry ban on Nurul Izzah.

In a joint statement, SLA president GBB Nandy @ Gaanesh, AAS president Khairil Azmi Mohd Hasbie and Malaysian Bar president Christopher Leong said that denying Nurul’s entry goes against Article 9 of the federal constitution, which guarantees Malaysians the freedom of movement.

"Although the Sabah state government has the statutory right to restrict entry, this power must be used sparingly, and only with justifiable cause," it said.

They also urged the state government to cease and desist from resorting such bans without any justification, and for the federal government to safeguard Malaysians' right to travel within the federation without hindrance.