Your Right To Travel Overseas Is A Privilege, NOT A Right According To The Court Of Appeal
Your passport is the property of the Malaysian government.
By Sadho Ram — 06 Jul 2017, 04:05 PM
Your right to travel overseas as a Malaysian citizen is at the absolute discretion of the Government, the Court of Appeal ruled on 5 July
The Court of Appeal ruled this while dismissing an appeal by MP Tony Pua.
Pua, who is DAP national publicity secretary, had moved to the Court of Appeal against the High Court's dismissal of his judicial review application challenging the Immigration Department Director-General's decision to bar him from travelling overseas.
While Pua claimed that the High Court's decision was ineffective under the law, saying it contradicted his legitimate rights to travel overseas using his valid passport, Court of Appeal judge Justice Mohd Zawawi Salleh along with Justices Idrus Harun and Kamardin Hashim, said "the provision on the right to travel overseas was not expressly embodied in Article 5 of the Federal Constitution that addresses rights to liberty."
The panel also ruled that "a passport is a privilege accorded to citizens by the government and not a right to travel abroad"
While clarifying that the term personal liberty under Article 5 was only confined to mounting a challenge against the authorities for unlawful detention of a citizen, the three-panel judges said that the passport "remains the property of the Malaysian government and the government could cancel the travel document."
The Court of Appeal, with regards to Tony Pua, ruled that under Article 5 and the Immigration Act, Pua has no right to be heard and the Immigration DG doesn't need to give any reason for the ban
While cautioning people to not always cite Constitutional provisions of other countries as the situation there may differ from Malaysia, Justice Mohd Zawawi Salleh did encourage Tony Pua to take the matter up to the Federal Court to determine the Constitutional issues in the highest court of the land.
"We have very limited jurisdiction. I will encourage you to pursue the matter especially on Article 5," Justice Zawawi was reported as saying.
Meanwhile, the Court of Appeal ruling also affects controversial cartoonist Zunar, who has been under a travel ban since June 2016
Following the decision, Zunar was reported saying that "freedom of movement was a fundamental right guaranteed under Articles 5, 8 and 9 of the Federal Constitution."
"Fundamental is a hard fact, it is not open to interpretation. It is also stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations. I do not know why judges choose grey when black and white is right in front of them," FMT quoted him.