The Sarawak immigration department has advised a 23-year resident of the state to leave voluntarily by today, failing which his whole family will also be uprooted from the state.

Chinese educationist Tan Seng Hin was told of his options by Miri immigration director Henry Klukok yesterday, according to Tans lawyer Jimmy HT Wee who was also at the 20-minute meeting.

Klukok said if Tan does not leave today, they may ask his family to go with him as well, said Wee.

He added that Klukok repeatedly said it was the decision of the state government to have Tan deported, and that there was nothing much the immigration office could do about it.

However, when contacted this afternoon, Tan, 62, who was still in his hometown with his wife and two children, said no immigration officers have approached him as yet.

Early last year, he left Sarawak on a deportation order by the immigration office. He also was barred from re-entering the state for a year.

On Dec 6 last year when the ban expired, Tan, who runs a construction business, returned to Sarawak on a two-week social visit pass.

Tan applied to extend his stay but it was rejected. He subsequently left Sarawak again on Jan 16 when his pass expired.

Security threat

Tan had been living in Sarawak for the past 23 years and was actively involved in a Chinese clan association and several education groups.

When asked in parliament last year why Tan was deported, Deputy Home Affairs Minister Zainal Abidin Zin labelled the Chinese educationist a security threat.

But Tan claimed that his deportation resulted from his vocalness against the state governments decision to change the teaching medium in two Miri Chinese independent schools from Mandarin to English.

The immigration enforcement in Sarawak and Sabah is different from that of the peninsula. When Malaysia was formed in 1963, both states signed a 20-point agreement, which among others, gave the states autonomy on matters such immigration, land and education.

Tan told malaysiakini today that he flew to Sarawak last Saturday without a social visit pass because he wanted to celebrate Chinese New Year with his family.

However, upon arriving at the airport, he was ordered to leave the next day, he added.

Tan said his passport was seized by the immigration department and he was instead given a special pass until he left the next day.

Asked how he felt about the denial of his entry into Sarawak, Tan said, I was saddened by it but I will not give up my rights.