Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang called on Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister George Chan to stop his 'charade' of being in the dark over the deportation and barring of a Chinese educationist from the state recently.

The DAP chairperson was responding to malaysiakini 's report yesterday that according to Chan, the deportation of Tan Seng Hin, 61, a Sarawak resident for 23 years, had nothing to do with the latter's 'political' activities ([#1] Deportee not a political target: Chan [/#], March 27).

In a press statement issued today, Lim said, "As Chan confirmed that the deportation was not because of politics and those responsible for the state's security had clarified that the case had nothing to do with security and that Tan is not a criminal, then it narrows down to Chan's unhappiness with Tan over the latter's stand on Chinese education issues in Miri."

Tan, who was never told the reason for his deportation, suspected that it might be connected to the comments he made in his capacity as the Miri Hainan Association secretary, about the Riam Road Middle School whose teaching medium changed last year from Mandarin to English, with Mandarin retained only as a subject.

Tan was deported from Sarawak to Peninsular Malaysia by the state immigration department on Jan 6, after a two-week notice was served on him on the cancellation of his entry social pass under Regulation 11(8) of the Immigration Regulations 1983.

White elephant

Meanwhile, on a separate matter, Lim lambasted the Sarawak state government for having embarked on the RM350 million Miri port in Baram, about 30km away from the capital.

The port, Lim said, was unable to accommodate larger crafts because of siltation and that the state government had "committed a colossal development folly in building the biggest white elephant".

Commenting on another issue, Lim said although the Sarawak DAP had pulled out of the state's Barisan Alternatif chapter on March 3, the dominant Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) would continue using the 'Islamic state' scare propaganda against DAP as the latter is still part of BA at the national level.

The Sarawak DAP branch had pulled out of the state's BA as it disagreed with PAS' Islamisation policies.