PBS supports banning of Nurul’s entry to Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) has defended the state Immigration Department’s decision not to allow PKR vice president Nurul Izzah Anwar to enter Sabah last week.

Its information chief, Datuk Johnny Mositun, said that the party supported the decision because it had to do with the security of the state being threatened.

“We support the decision as we believe the Immigration Department has justification not to allow her to enter Sabah,” he said when asked to comment on the incident that occurred on the eve of Kaamatan.

Mositun also said that this was not the first time that an individual had been barred from entering Sabah and some of the individuals had in fact been allowed in the state after the threat that they posed was deemed to be over.

He cited for example DAP advisor Lim Kit Siang who had been deported from Sabah before and is now allowed entry into the state.

“I believe this is not a total ban, it was just for that day because of the threat to the state’s security,” Mositun added.

The Deputy State Assembly Speaker called on all to respect the decision as it is part of the 20-point agreement that was formed in relation to establishment of Malaysia in 1963 and pointed out that under the agreement, the state government does not have to explain why an individual is barred from entering Sabah.

On Sunday, Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman said Sabah’s doors are always open to those who want to see and embrace its ethnic and cultural diversities as well as participate in the state’s festivities.

He said Sabah also welcomed those who respect a civil society, where law and order prevailed to uphold peace and harmony.

“However if we have reason to believe that your presence here will pose a threat to these ideals that Sabah has enjoyed all these while, you are not welcomed here,” he said and stressed that contrary to what was being spread in the social media, the ban on Nurul Izzah from entering the state was not politically motivated.

“Other opposition leaders have come and moved freely throughout Sabah, especially during the run-up to the elections. They spread the same old recipe of lies, deceit and slander to hoodwink the people. We didn’t stop them,” he said.

“Now that the elections are over, their leader refuses to accept the verdict. It is a case of sour grapes and ungentlemanly conduct. He wants to rile up the masses to rally throughout the country to show his, and I repeat, his discontent,” he said.

“We have reason to believe that Nurul Izzah’s intentions to come to Sabah this time round may not be as innocent as she or her fellow opposition members make it out to be,” he said.

Musa said Sabah and its people do not need endless propaganda by the opposition to incite hatred and mistrust among the people against the Barisan Nasional government.

“Enough is enough. We need to move on. The opposition has been politicking for the last five years. Are we going to get bogged down by more politicking in the next five years? There’s work to be done. The country needs to be administrated, the economy needs to grow and the people’s welfare taken care of,” he said.