Sarawak denies two opposition MPs entry amid election campaign period
UPDATED 1.00PM: PKR lawmaker Wong Chen has also been denied entry.
SARAWAK POLLS | Opposition MPs Ngeh Koo Ham and Wong Chen have been denied entry into Sarawak amid the ongoing state election campaign period.
Ngeh questioned why he was “blacklisted” and if there was a political motive behind it.
The Beruas MP also...
UPDATED 1.00PM: PKR lawmaker Wong Chen has also been denied entry.
SARAWAK POLLS | Opposition MPs Ngeh Koo Ham and Wong Chen have been denied entry into Sarawak amid the ongoing state election campaign period.
Ngeh questioned why he was “blacklisted” and if there was a political motive behind it.
The Beruas MP also demanded an answer from the Immigration Department and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) - the caretaker state government coalition.
“I just received word from the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee that my application to enter Sarawak has been rejected because I am apparently blacklisted by Immigration...
“I want an explanation from the department,” he said in a broadcast press conference from the Parliament lobby yesterday.
The DAP central executive committee member stressed that he was one of the five party leaders chosen to represent the party in Sarawak, as per Election Commission rules.
Ngeh also noted that he had no criminal record, arguing there was no reason for the ban.
“I want an answer from the (caretaker) Sarawak government as to why I am not allowed to campaign there...
“Is this because they are afraid of me campaigning? Is the GPS (caretaker) government afraid of me exposing something to the Sarawakian people?” he asked.
Contacted by Malaysiakini, Ngeh said he is presently in the Klang Valley and had planned to fly to Sarawak today.
He rued how there had been “no official reason” why his enterSarawak application was rejected. Sarawak has autonomy over its immigration borders.
The Perak DAP advisor learned that it was Sarawak that had requested Immigration to blacklist him.
“When I raised it in Parliament (earlier today) the Deputy Home Minister (Ismail Mohamed Said) and the officer later informed me that they prohibited me on the instructions of the Sarawak government,” he shared.
This is the third time Ngeh has been denied entry.
He was deported in April 2016 after landing in Sarawak ahead of the previous state election. He was deported a second time in 2018 after landing four days before the 14th general election.
Entry denied day before departure
Meanwhile, PKR’s Wong said his enterSarawak application had also been rejected.
“I am supposed to be on a plane now to go to Kuching but my entry pass to Sarawak was rejected last night,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
The Subang lawmaker lamented that he spent, and now wasted, RM1,200 on economy-class flight tickets.
Wong did not state if there was a reason given for the rejection.
Other opposition figures from Peninsular Malaysia have been granted access into Sarawak during the election campaign period, among them PKR Pandan MP Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and DAP Seputeh MP Teresa Kok Suh Sim.
Sarawak election 2021 - What you need to know
Election pledges so far:
GPS promises continuity, independence from other political forces
Sarawak polls: PSB pledges freehold land, secularism, reforestation
PBK promises RM3k, independence, end to statelessness
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