Selangor MB Azmin barred from entering Sarawak

PETALING JAYA: Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali has been barred from entering Sarawak.
"I have just been barred from entry into Sarawak and detained against my will at the holding area of the Kuching International Airport pending deportation back to the peninsula," Azmin said in a statement today.
Azmin said he holds Sarawak's Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem accountable for this most unfortunate and regrettable situation but at the same time feels sorry for him.
"Barring me is indeed no skin off my nose but is a great affront to the office of the Mentri Besar of Selangor to which I have been duly appointed by His Royal Highness the Sultan," he added.
The PKR Deputy President said that Adenan had crossed the line and exposed himself as being reckless in the use of his executive powers.
"The ban is a blatant violation of the law. Section 67 of the Immigration Act clearly confers the right to enter Sabah and Sarawak "for the sole purpose of engaging in legitimate political activity". If Adenan Satem says that I am coming here only to campaign for the state elections and not as a State Mentri Besar, then he must at the same time accept that Section 67 would make his action totally illegal and unconstitutional because campaigning is indeed a legitimate political activity."
He was earlier granted a three-day stay by the state's immigration department but had to leave by May 2.
Azmin joins several Opposition leaders who were barred from entering the state to campaign for the May 7 state elections.
They include Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, PKR vice-presidents Rafizi Ramli and Nurul Izzah Anwar, as well as DAP lawmakers Hannah Yeoh and Gobind Singh Deo.
Amnesty International said the Sarawak state government should immediately lift travel bans on opposition leaders during the current election period.
In a statement issued on Thursday, Amnesty said those banned were planning to carry out peaceful political activities in the run up to the elections.
It added that the restriction of political adversaries from entering Sarawak is a violation of the right to freedom of movement, and also stifles the right to freedom of expression enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.