PAKATAN Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad and DAP supremo Lim Kit Siang breezed through Sarawak Immigration after flying in today for the opposition pact’s first ceramah in the state.

There had been fears that they would be barred from entering after PKR’s Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin and Petaling Jaya Selatan MP Hee Loy Sian were denied entry upon landing in Miri yesterday.

Kuala Sepetang assemblyman Chua Yee Ling, who was on the same flight to Sarawak as Zuraida and Hee, and was initially allowed in, was later picked up at the state PKR’s Pink Diamond fundraising dinner and escorted to the airport for deportation.

Chua was put on AirAsia’s last flight to Kuala Lumpur.

Dr Mahathir sarcastically said barring entry to the PKR trio seemed to show that “Sarawak is very independent”.

“You (Sarawakians) seem to have your own passport.”

In a media conference upon his arrival, Dr Mahathir said PH would revisit the Malaysia Agreement 1963 and “find out what Sarawak and Sabah are unhappy about” if the opposition coalition came into power.

He said PH would look into grouses like the state’s demand for control over oil and education.

“We will look into them with an open mind.”

Sarawak is in talks with Putrajaya over the return of state rights lost over the past 54 years.

Yesterday, Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg said he would not divulge details on the progress of the talks.

“I will disclose it at the right time,” he said during an event in the former gold mining town of Bau, amid rumours that the talks had been bogged down.

Zuraida, who is also PKR and PH women’s chief, had arrived an hour or so after Abang Johari told reporters that he would not stop Dr Mahathir, Lim and other PH leaders from entering the state for the ceramah in Kuching.

Abang Johari said they were allowed into Sarawak as they were “not extremists”, and at the same time, dismissed them as being “not important”.

Chua, in a Facebook post, had written about Zuraida being barred from entering Sarawak.

Zuraida, who is on the state’s immigration blacklist, was photographed flanked by two Immigration officers and holding what looked like the “Notice of Refusal of Entry”, stating the “reason” for the action against her.

The actual reason has not been given, but the “standard reason” provided was that it was done pursuant to Section 65(i) (a) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, which states that “the state authority has directed that no pass be issued to you to enter the State of Sarawak and such pass is required under Section 66 for you to enter the state”.

Zuraida, who was allowed to enter the state last month to attend her party’s “open house” in Petra Jaya, was reported to be shocked by the ban.

“It was shocking and a deep disappointment to me,” Sarawak PKR leader Baru Bian told The Malaysian Insight by phone from Miri.

“I thought this new government under Abang Johari would at least depart from (that of) his predecessors, Adenan Satem and Abdul Taib Mahmud.

“I thought they (the state) would only ban opposition leaders during elections. This is not even an election.

“There is no basis for barring Zuraida. She is not known to be an extremist, nor does she belong to any extremist group.

“She was on a legitimate political business (trip).”

Baru said the only reason he could think of for the state’s entry ban was that the BN government was fearful “of the truth to be revealed”, referring to the success of opposition-led state governments in Selangor and Penang.

“They just don’t want PH leaders coming here and sharing their testimonies.”

DAP said Zuraida being denied the freedom of movement in her home country was not only unprecedented, but also contrary to what Abang Johari had said about not stopping those who were not extremists.

Kelvin Yii, an aide of Sarawak PH chief Chong Chieng Jen, said there was no evidence that Zuraida had provocative or extremist views, and so, denying her entry was “an act of cowardice and oppression against the rights of a citizen of the country”.

A source in PKR, however, said the reason was probably because no one in the party had liaised with the state government to secure prior approval, like what had been done for PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar and Zuraida last month for the party’s “open house”.

“They are on the blacklist. If no prior approval was secured, they will be stopped by Immigration officers.” – September 24, 2017.