Immigration Department director-general Sakib Kusmi must explain clearly which legal provision allows him to bar critics of the government from leaving the country, lawyer Eric Paulsen says.

"The director-general must show us the legal provision. I don't think there is such a general and vague provision such as 'someone who is dangerous on the advice of the police.'

"Unless the director-general can show us the provision, the assumption must be that he just made it up," Paulsen told Malaysiakini.