Barred from travelling freely

From left: Kua KS, Cynthia Gabriel and Meenakshi Raman

When concerned Malaysians become activists (whether they socio-political, environmentally-conscious, animal lovers, etc), they do it for the same reasons: they love their country and they want to make it better.

They don't do it for the reason the BN government likes to accuse them of - that these people are anti-government and therefore traitors to this country. Yeah right, we activists like to be barred from travelling freely and we enjoy being intimidated by SB officers ... all in the name of FUN.

I knew of a handful of people who had been barred from travelling freely on the basis they were activists but I was quite shocked to read that there were Sarawakian acitivists who have been barred from travelling abroad. The government's reason is very likely that these people would not then be able to 'tell more lies about the country' to 'pesky Westerners'...

The following information is from Suaram.

Sarawakians who have had their rights to travel abroad denied:

i. Gara Jalong - an indigenous activist who was stopped at the airport while on his way to Thailand for the Asian Indigenous Peoples' Pact meeting in 1994. His passport has since expired and his application to renew it in 1995 has been refused without any reasons given.

ii. Wong Meng Chuo - an activist who has been working with forest peoples and forest issues, was stopped in 1992 when he was on his way to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Brazil. Although he was eventually allowed to attend the conference, Wong was unable to get his passport renewed when it expired in June 1995. Only after SUHAKAM intervened in 2001, he was finally allowed to get his passport renewed - 6 years after it had expired.

iii. Raymond Abin - an indigenous activist who had his passport taken from him at KLIA on 2 March 1997. Raymond was on his way to attend a conference of the International Alliance of the Indigenous Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests in India. He was told by Immigration Department that he was a "threat to national security". Abin's passport was eventually returned to him, but he was told that it was no longer a valid travel document. Abin has since made 3 passport renewal applications but unsuccessful.

iv. Jok Jau Evong - an indigenous activist who had his passport taken from him at the airport in Kuching in 1993, when he was going to attend a conference in Peru. He was told that he could not leave the country due to his involvement in anti-logging campaigns. Evong then sought to annul the state government's decision to revoke his passport to the High Court. However, the case was dismissed by the court. In 2002, 9 years after being barred from leaving the country, the Court of Appeal finally declared that the decision by the Sarawak Immigration Department in 1993 to withdraw Evong's passport should be revoked.

v. Thomas Jalong - an indigenous activist was stopped at the Kuala Lumpur airport when he was on his way to attend the International Tropical Timber Organisation (ITTO) meeting in Tokyo in 1992. His passport was also withheld. Jalong filed a case at the High Court in January 1993 challenging that the Director of Immigration did not have the power to withdraw his passport. Jalong lost his case, but appealed to the Court of Appeals and reached an out-of court settlement in 2005. He has since been given the clearance by the Immigration Department to renew his passport.

Activists from Semenanjung Malaysia who are barred from entering Sarawak:

i. Kua Kia Soong - a director of SUARAM who has been an active campaigner against the Bakun Dam project and was a member of the fact finding mission to enquire into the conditions faced by indigenous peoples displaced in 1998. On 23 August 2007 Kua, who was to officiate a function in Sarawak organised by the New Era College, of which he is the principal, was refused entry after having his MyKad (identification card) screened. The Immigration Department officer at Kuching airport informed that he had been refused entry into Sarawak because he is on the "blacklist for involvement in anti-logging activities".

ii. Cynthia Gabriel - the then Executive Director of SUARAM was denied entry into Sarawak at Miri Airport in August 2003. She was to attend a workshop on globalisation and its impact on indigenous people in Malaysia. Immigration Department officers at the airport told Gabriel that she was denied entry as her name was blacklisted since 1998. Gabriel has still not been officially informed the reasons of the ban from entering Sarawak imposed on her.

iii. Meenakshi Raman - the former legal advisor to the Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) was a lawyer to the indigenous people affected by the Bakun Dam project in Sarawak. Meenakshi was refused entry into the Sarawak in April 1995 when she was on her way to consult with her clients, but has not been told why she has been barred from entering Sarawak.

iv. Tan Jo Hann - an activist with the Persatuan Masyarakat Selangor dan Wilayah Persekutuan (PERMAS) who has worked on development issues, was first refused entry into Sarawak around 1999. The Immigration Department officers claimed that his name was in the blacklist but did not provide further explanations. After being pressed further, the Immigration Department Chief of the state of Sarawak said to Tan that it might be due to his "anti-logging activities" and asked him to clarify this matter in the Immigration Department headquarters in Kuala Lumpur. He was subsequently given an official letter declaring Tan persona non grata in Sarawak. In 2001, he was again deported when he tried to travel to Sarawak.

v. Jerald Joseph - an activist who has been working with Pusat Komas and also an active campaigner for indigenous peoples' rights, found out that he was in the Sarawak state's blacklist when Tan Jo Hann was denied entry into the state. When Tan was refused entry into Sarawak around the year 1999, the Immigration Department officer told Tan that Jerald Joseph was also in the blacklist.

vi. Carol Yong - then a research student who had previously worked with the Institute for Community Education, an NGO working on indigenous peoples' rights, was stopped at Miri Airport in 1997. She was traveling to Sarawak for her Master's fieldwork with an official research permit issued by the State Planning Unit (SPU) of the Sarawak government. Yong was given a letter from the Immigration Department at the Miri Airport, declaring Yong persona non grata in the state. In the letter, it was also stated that she had to leave the state within 24 hours. Despite the order to leave Sarawak within 24 hours, Yong went to Kuching to see the SPU officer the next day and was informed that the order to leave came from the state Immigration Department.

vii. Colin Nicholas - the Centre for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) director was denied entry to Sarawak in September 2003. Nicholas was told by the Immigration Department director of Sarawak that the state had "very good reasons" for denying entry of those people on the blacklist, and that the department did not normally divulge or make public the reasons for the deportations. On 10 September 2007, as Nicholas was leaving the country for a conference, he was stopped at the Kuala Lumpur airport. The Immigration Department officer asked him whether he was a Sarawakian and confirmed that he has been blacklisted since 1998 for "anti-logging and environmental activities". The Immigration Department computer screen which displayed Nicholas' personal information had the word "RAHSIA" (secret) written in large font diagonally. After a delay of 5 hours, he was finally allowed to proceed. To date, he has not received any official documents informing him of the reasons of the restrictions imposed on him.