Tan has explained that he is on the Singapore “black-list” because of his trade union activities in the republic 30 years ago and that his past had nothing to do with the reason for the Sarawak state government’s human rights violation and breach of the rule of law in deporting him from Sarawak on January 6 this year and banning him from re-entry after 23 years making Miri his home.
Tan’s past trade union activities in Singapore have been made public, but Chan has still to explain why he had issued the challenge to Tan to explain the reason for being blacklisted and banned from entering the island republic.
If Chan thinks that Tan’s past activities 30 years ago are relevant, is he also suggesting the removal of Datuk Sim Kheng Hui as Sarawak’s Assistant Minister for Industrial Development and SUPP Secretary-General as like Tan Seng Hin, Sim was previously detained under Internal Security Act and blacklisted and banned from entering Singapore.
By Chan’s logic, Sim’s case should be more serious than Tan’s because Sim was detained under the ISA by the Malaysian authorities, while Tan was never detained by the Malaysian authorities. Furthermore, Sim served a longer period of ISA detention - for four years, according to “The Story of SUPP” which is the official publication of the SUPP on its three decades of party history!
Chan’s conduct in the entire course of Tan’s deportation and ban from re-entering Sarawak must have come as a great surprise to the people of Sarawak. At first, when approached by the Miri Hainan Association on the case, Chan claimed ignorance as to why the Sarawak state government took such an action.
However, from his statement on Wednesday claiming that the Sarawak state government was justified in cancelling Tan’s social visit pass in December last year because of some of his "extreme actions'' while staying in Miri, it is clear that Chan was putting up a great pretence of ignorance all this while. This is not what a honest and sincere political leader should do.
Tan has challenged Chan to give particulars of his “extreme actions” to justify the Sarawak state action. Chan should give details of such “extreme actions” or he should withdraw and apologise for the baseless statement.
I call on SUPP leaders to persuade Chan to stop his personal vendetta against Tan, which can only undermine the good name of both Sarawak and Malaysia as well as the reputation of SUPP.
I am giving Chan 48 hours to reconsider his unfair action and charges against Tan and to revoke the ban so as to allow Tan to re-enter Sarawak to be reunited with his family, failing which follow-up actions to launch a national and international campaign against the Sarawak state government’s human rights violation and breach of the rule of law would proceed.
(7/4/2001)