Sarawak Report’s Rewcastle-Brown unsure if still on state’s no-entry list
KUCHING: Sarawak Report editor and investigative reporter Clare Rewcastle-Brown says she still does not know if she would be allowed to enter Sarawak.
In interviews with national dailies, she said she arrived in Kuala Lumpur on May 19, 10 days following Pakatan Harapan’s win in the 14th general election.
Though the federal and Sabah governments have allowed her entry, she told a BFM radion yesterday that she was not sure of visiting Sarawak as she was not confident that her name had been lifted from the state Immigration Department’s blacklist.
This has prompted Movement for Change Sarawak ( MoCS) to urge Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg to lift the entry ban on her.
Its leader Francis Paul Siah told a separate news portal that Rewcastle-Brown, who was born in Sarawak, must be allowed into the state and that MoCS is looking forward to inviting her.
Siah also claimed that many Sarawakians would want to meet her.
“I urge Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg to lift the entry ban on her. Let me remind him that in GE14, Sarawakians have spoken loud and clear,” Siah said.
Suggesting that RewcastleBrown was not a security threat to Sarawak, Siah said only the guilty were afraid of her because of her many exclusive reports detailing the alleged corruption of those in high office in the state.
Rewcastle-Brown has been openly critical of the BN state government through Sarawak Report – a whistleblower website known for its exposés on 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
The previous federal administration has issued an arrest warrant against her in 2015 for allegedly being involved in activities “detrimental to parliamentary democracy”.
She discovered that she had been placed on the state’s immigration blacklist when she was denied entry into Sarawak in July 2013 upon arriving at Kuching International Airport.
Efforts to get confirmation from various state authorities as to Rewcastle-Brown’s immigration status were unsuccessful as of press time yesterday.
Sarawak has autonomy over immigration matters under the Malaysia Agreement 1963, and has previously barred entry to those deemed a threat to racial or religious harmony.
Among those who had been barred from entering the state are former PKR MPs Tian Chua and Rafizi Ramli, PKR secretary- general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail and Subang MP R Sivarasa.
Others include DAP MPs Tony Pua and Teresa Kok, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, Umno Sungai Besar division chief Datuk Jamal Mohd Yunus, Perkasa president Datuk Ibrahim Ali, prominent lawyer Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan, Bersih 2.0 chairperson Maria Chin Abdullah, controversial lecturer Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, as well as a number of civil society activists.