KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 ― DAP's Tony Pua today accused the federal government of abusing its power for imposing travel bans on citizens without offering an explanation.

The Petaling Jaya Utara MP, who was reacting to the latest prohibition on Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah, said although the law grants discretion to the immigration authority to restrict an individual’s travel rights, the government should practise transparency and accountability and justify its actions when doing so.

“Even if a law grants the authority the relevant discretion to exercise its powers, such discretions under any democratic regime governed by the rule of law must be exercised reasonably,” he said in a press statement.

The DAP lawmaker added that such discretions were never meant to be abused according to the authorities' whims and fancies.

Pua was responding to Deputy Home Minister Datuk Nur Jazlan Mohamad who yesterday said that Putrajaya need not justify banning any citizen from leaving the country.

Nur Jazlan had reportedly said that it was the immigration department that imposed the ban on Chin and not his ministry.

The Umno MP explained that Chin could, however, request for the official reason behind her travel ban.

“I am disappointed Nur Jazlan has decided that there is absolutely no need for the government to be transparent and accountable in the exercise of its powers,” Pua said.

Pua then said he too has been barred from leaving the country since July 24, 2015, citing that the director of immigration had similarly refused to provide him a reason.

According to Pua, after challenging the decision in court, he was told that he was under police investigations for “activities detrimental to parliamentary democracy”, an offence which carries up to a 20-year jail sentence.

On Sunday, Chin was stopped by airport officials when she tried to board a flight to South Korea where she was due to accept the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights award on behalf of the electoral reforms group.

She said no explanation was given for the ban, and described the move as outrageous and a violation of her constitutional freedoms.

It was reported last month that Bersih 2.0 won the award for its efforts in pushing for electoral reform in Malaysia.

According to the Bersih 2.0 steering committee, the award was to commemorate the spirit of the democratic fight by the people in Gwangju on May 1980 when they stood up against the military regime in South Korea.

Yesterday, PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail also demanded for an explanation in Parliament on Putrajaya’s reasons for prohibiting Chin from travelling abroad.

She described the move as “a desperate act of Barisan Nasional in inhibiting Malaysians to travel freely and willfully”.