PARTI Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) deputy secretary-general Bawani S. Kaniapan has become the latest political figure from the peninsula to be barred from entering Sarawak.

Biwani, who reportedly was on a social visit to attend a friend’s wedding, was stopped by immigration officers on arrival at 11.05am yesterday.

She flew in on an AirAsia flight that left Kuala Lumpur at 9.20am.

In a posting on her Facebook, Bawani said: “I (was) stopped by immigresen at Kuching airport. They said I can’t enter Sarawak.

“Reason: arahan dari kerajaan negeri Sarawal sejak tahun 2016 (orders from the state government since 2016).

“Just last Wednesday, I checked my status at Ipoh Immigration and they said everything was okay.”

As is the practice, no reason was given for denying her entry.

However, the “notice of refusal of entry” that was served on her stated that pursuant to Section 65(i) (a) of the Immigration Act 1959/63, “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”.

She joins a long list of politicians and social activists from the peninsula on the state’s “blacklist”, including PKR vice-presidents Tian Chua, Rafizi Ramli and Nurul Izzah Anwar; its Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin; Petaling Jaya Utara MP Tony Pua; Subang MP R. Sivarasa; former PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail; Perkasa chief Ibrahim Ali; former Bersih 2.0 chairman S. Ambiga; social activists Steven Ng, Cynthia Gabriel, Wong Chin Huat and Johan Tan; Sabah opposition leader Jeffrey Kitingan, academic Dr Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah and Umno’s Red Shirt leader Jamal Md Yunos, to name a few.

Sarawak had often used its immigration powers to prohibit the entry of people from the peninsula it deemed as “extremists, religious bigots and racists”. – July 30, 2017.