KUCHING: Special Branch police and immigration officers detained activist lawyer Harrison Ngau at the Kuching airport today. They let him go after telling him he was under the government’s watch list without elaborating, he told online news Free Malaysia Today (FMT.)
Ngau, a well-known fighter for native rights, said he suspected that the brief detention had a connection with recent protests in London against Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud over the plight of Penans.
He said he told the officers he had nothing to do with the protests.
He told FMT that police had been following him for some time.
“But this time, they were rather panicky when they saw me leaving for Kuala Lumpur” to discuss native customary rights cases with other lawyers.
“Ask Robert Lian why the immigration officers are doing this to me,” he said.
Lian, Sarawak’s Director of Immigration, was not available for comment. Like Ngau, he is an Orang Ulu.
Ngau is famous for his anti-logging activities. He has, on several occasions, led blockades against timber operations in the Baram area.
Because of these activities he was once put under house arrest for almost two years and spent 60 days in detention without trial.
In 1990 he stood for election as an independent candidate in the Baram parliamentary constituency and defeated Deputy Minister of Works Luhat Wan. He subsequently joined Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak.- by Joseph Tawie
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