KUALA LUMPUR, April 10 — DAP’s Lim Kit Siang today urged Sarawak chief minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem to lift what he described as a blanket ban on opposition leaders from entering the state unless the latter could prove that the said leaders had engaged in acts of extremism.
The Gelang Patah MP expressed hope that Adenan would lift the ban, currently enforced on several Pakatan Harapan MPs to allow them to campaign for the upcoming Sarawak state election.
“I hope Adenan will remove his blanket ban on Pakatan Harapan MPs and leaders from entering Sarawak for legitimate political parties in campaigning in the Sarawak state elections — unless he can make out a case that the persons being banned are religious bigots, extremists or troublemakers,” Kit Siang said in a statement today.
He claimed that the ban against the opposition members, mainly those from DAP, only shows that the party is a formidable member in the political fraternity.
“There is now a great fear of the DAP among several quarters, the latest from Sarawak with the latest news that the Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem is mulling over the banning of Guan Eng, myself as well as the PKR President Datuk Seri Azizah Wan Ismail, from entering Sarawak for campaigning in the 11th Sarawak State Elections,” he added.
Yesterday Adenan said that Kit Siang, his son and Penang chief minister Lim Guan Eng, as well as Dr Wan Azizah, may be banned from entering Sarawak, adding that he will “cross the bridge” when they arrive at Sarawak.
Speaking to reporters after addressing the Sarawak Youth Forum at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK), he said that the state government will come out with a list of people who will be prohibited entry into Sarawak, from time to time.
“It is not true that we only ban opposition figures from entering, but we also ban religious bigots, extremists, as well as from Umno,” he said.
Two days ago, DAP’s Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching from the DAP was stopped at the Bintulu Airport, while DAP mascot designer Ooi Leng Hah was told that he was not allowed to enter Sarawak at the Kuching International Airport yesterday morning.
Other opposition leaders who have been barred from entering the state included Tony Pua and Teresa Kok from the DAP, as well as PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar, Chua Tian Chang and Rafizi Ramli.
