Travelling abroad for any reason can be an exciting experience, but discovering that you are barred from leaving the country while passing through immigration is undoubtedly a nightmare. That’s exactly what happened to political street artist and activist Fahmi Reza recently.
Known for portraying Malaysia’s 6th Prime Minister, Najib Razak, as a clown, the 48-year-old was reportedly scheduled to fly to Singapore over the weekend. However, he was informed that he had been blacklisted from both overseas and domestic travel to Sabah, and was therefore unable to leave the country. Here’s the full story:
According to Fahmi Reza, via an Instagram Story, immigration officers informed him that Bukit Aman had not granted clearance for him to leave the country. When he asked for the reason behind the restriction, they advised him to contact the Bukit Aman police station directly. “Last week I was blacklisted from entering Sabah and now, I can’t travel overseas,” he said on Instagram.
His posts quickly went viral, with netizens calling on the government and authorities to provide an explanation for the travel ban imposed on the artist. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim caught wind of the situation and instructed the police to look into the matter, while denying that the government had imposed any restrictions on Fahmi’s movement.
Following the PM’s statement, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain clarified that Fahmi is only on the police movement monitoring list due to his involvement in an investigation, but he is not officially barred from leaving the country. As such, the instructions given by immigration officers were incorrect.
Although both the government and police have clarified the issue, the activist remains dissatisfied with the explanation. Fahmi responded by pointing out that not a single government official or agency had taken responsibility for the incident, which he claimed resulted in losses of both time and money. “You keep saying there is ‘no official ban’. But in reality, I was still blocked and denied my right to travel,” he said in a statement on Instagram.
He concluded his post by stating that he intends to take the case to court. “This time, it’s the people’s turn to drag those in power to court. You always tell me to ‘use the right channel’, don’t you? Fine — see you in court,” he wrote. At the time of writing, neither the government nor the police have responded to Fahmi’s desire to sue them.
