QUICK TAKE: Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali has claimed that he was humiliated at the Kuching International Airport by Immigration officers when he arrived in the state capital last Sunday.
He said that as he came through the common arrival hall, they asked for his identity card as if they did not recognise him.
If that was not enough, they also asked him to wait while they checked with the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) whether to allow him in or not.
CMO is the authority which issues orders to bar some Malayan opposition leaders from entering Sarawak.
“I almost could not enter the state,” he said at the launch of the state PKR election operations room later that evening.
“When I presented my MyKad to the immigration officer, the officer had to check with the higher authorities to give clearance,” said Azmin, who is also PKR deputy president.
Perhaps, the immigration officers at the airport should try not to treat public figures within the opposition so shabbily, to quote the Selangor MB.
Although he may come to the state on a private visit, a man of his status should also have been given the privilege to use the VIP arrival lounge. After all, the facility is funded by taxpayers.
PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail also told The Ant Daily that she too was treated as an ordinary visitor from Malaya.
She was also requested to present her MyKad before she was permitted to enter.
“They (immigration officers) treated me like everybody else, but I have no complaints,” said the Opposition Leader.
One must appreciate that Wan Azizah’s status in Parliament is like a federal minister. And it is only fair that she is given that recognition by civil servants.
But for PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin, it was her third time unlucky when she wanted to visit Sarawak last Friday.
She was again barred at the Kuching International Airport.
Zuraida is among several top PKR leaders banned from entering the state on grounds that they were a “security risk” to the state of Sarawak which has been enjoying racial and religious harmony and unity.
Other senior PKR leaders barred from entering Sarawak include Nurul Izzah, Rafizi Ramli, Tian Chua and Saifuddin Nasution.
Are they really a threat to Sarawak’s racial and religious harmony?
If that is so, they would have been arrested by the police as Sarawak is part of Malaysia. If they are a security risk in Sarawak, they are also a security risk in Malaya.
Nurul alleged that banning them from Sarawak was a sign of “cowardice”.-The Ant Daily
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