PUTRAJAYA, July 27 ― The High Court today dismissed the judicial review application by Petaling Jaya Utara Member of Parliament Tony Pua Kiam Wee to challenge the Director-General of Immigration's decision barring him from travelling overseas.

Judge Datuk Hanifah Farikullah in his judgment said that Pua did not have a constitutional right to leave the country and to travel overseas.

She said all citizens had no automatic right to leave the country and in certain circumstances the government could stop a citizen from doing so.

The judge said under Section 3(2) of the Immigration Act, the Director-General shall have the general supervision and direction of all matters relating to immigration throughout Malaysia.

"Under the act, the director-general has certain powers to bar a person from travelling.  

"The decision to bar the applicant (Pua) from travelling abroad was exercised by the Director-General of Immigration and not by the Inspector-General of Police," she said.

On Oct 1 last year, the High Court had granted leave for a judicial review for Pua to challenge the Immigration Department's order barring him from leaving the country.

Pua, who is also DAP's national publicity secretary, was seeking a declaration that the restriction order imposed on him on July 22, 2015, was unlawful and invalid.

Besides seeking to quash the order, he also asked for special damages, costs and other relief deemed fit by the court.

The DAP leader alleged that the order was ultra vires or beyond the authority of the respondents as he was not given any notice or opportunity to be heard prior to the decision.

He alleged that the decision was unreasonable, unfair and mala fide or malicious against him.

Pua was at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 for a flight to Yogyakarta, Indonesia when he was stopped from leaving.

Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, represented the Immigration Director-General and the government, while lawyer Gobind Singh Deo acted for Pua. ― Bernama