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PETALING JAYA: The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) today rapped the Sarawak government for retaining the travel ban on one of its commissioners who had tried to enter the state.

Suhakam chairman Razali Ismail said Jerald Joseph had been scheduled to attend a meeting along with others in Sarawak, adding that the travel ban had prevented the commission from holding the conference.

“In the context of Malaysia’s democratic transformation, every citizen shall enjoy the right to freedom of movement. We call on the state government of Sarawak to immediately lift the ban on Jerald Joseph,” he said in a statement.

When contacted, a Suhakam spokesman who did not wish to be named, said Jerald had been banned from entering the state due to his protest over the construction of the controversial Bakun dam, the country’s biggest hydro-electric project.

“We also sent a letter to the Sarawak government, appealing to them to lift Jerald’s travel ban, but they said no.”

The spokesman added that Suhakam would now hold its commission meeting in Kuala Lumpur instead.

Prior to the May 9 polls, Sarawak had banned politicians and NGO leaders including PKR’s Nurul Izzah Anwar and Rafizi Ramli as well as DAP’s Teresa Kok and Tony Pua.

Former Bersih 2.0 chairman Ambiga Sreenevasan and Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali were also barred from entering the state.

In August this year, Amanah Youth vice-chief Shazni Munir Mohd Ithnin was banned from entering Sarawak.

State minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah had defended the ban, citing the Malaysia Agreement 1963 which he said provided Sarawak with the right to bar those deemed “undesirable to the state”.