By Teresa Kok, MP for Seputeh
This morning I had issued a press statement calling on the Sarawak Chief Minister to lift the entry ban earlier imposed on Pakatan Rakyat MPs and I so that we can pay our respects to the late Wong Ho Leng who passed away yesterday.
After faxing my letter to the Chief Minister’s office, I had subsequently contacted Haji Mustapa Han, Senior Private Secretary to the Chief Minister.
I am glad that he replied that there will be no entry ban imposed on Pakatan Rakyat MP s who wish to travel to Sibu to pay last respects to Wong Ho Leng.
It is not clear at this stage whether the lifting of the ban is only temporary and for this specific purpose. Nevertheless, I wish to call on the Sarawak Chief Minister to make permanent the ban cancellation as we did not deserve to be banned at all.
Below is the statement which I had issued this morning.
“I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Sdr Wong Ho Leng, former MP for Sibu, ADUN for Bukit Assek and former Chairman of Sarawak DAP.
His demise was great loss to the DAP, Sarawak and the nation.
Sdr Wong Ho Leng was not just my party comrade, but was also a close friend of mine. I always admire his principles for justice and fairness in politics, his wit and wisdom, and his good command of English and Chinese.
He will be missed by DAP comrades. And he will also be remembered for being the first Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak MP when he won in the Sibu parliamentary by election in 2010, a victory which was described as a “Sibu Miracle”.
My deepest condolences go to Sdr Wong’s wife, family and loved ones.
I had visited Ho Leng a few times when he sought treatment in Singapore. I plan to fly to Sibu to attend his funeral .However; I am being blacklisted together with other Pakatan Rakyat MPs from entry into Sarawak, without valid reasons given to us.
As the Sarawak Chief Minister said on many occasions that his government would practice immigration autonomy and ban religious and racial bigots from entry into Sarawak, I am still baffled why my Pakatan Rakyat colleagues and I have been banned as we are certainly no religious or racial bigots.
I have today faxed a letter to the office of Sarawak Chief Minister to appeal to him to lift the ban on the Pakatan Rakyat MPs so that we can fly to Sarawak and attend Wong Ho Leng’s funeral on Tuesday.
