Suhakam slams S'wak for travel ban on its commissioner

PETALING JAYA: The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has slammed the Sarawak state government for retaining its travel restriction on Commissioner Jerald Joseph.

Chairman Tan Sri Razali Ismail said that by preventing Joseph's entry into Sarawak for Suhakam's Commission meetings, the state goverment was impeding Suhakam's statutory duty to promote and protect human rights in the state.

"In effect, this travel ban has prevented Suhakam from holding its scheduled commission meeting of October in Sarawak," he said in a statement Thursday (Oct 18). 

"In the context of Malaysia's democratic transformation, every citizen shall enjoy the right to freedom of movement, and we call on the state government of Sarawak to immediately lift the travel ban on Jerald Joseph," Razali added.

When contacted, Suhakam corporate communications head Jesrina Grewal said Jerald has been banned from entering Sarawak since 1998.

She said Jerald was given a special permission by the state government to attend the commission meeting in August 2017, but it seemed they had now changed their position.