The president of the PAS outfit on Felda matters has been barred from entering Sarawak.

Mazlan Aliman, who heads Persatuan Anak Felda Kebangsaan (Anak), was stopped from going through the Miri Airport this morning when he flew in from Kota Kinabalu.

Traveling together with party president Abdul Hadi Awang, Mazlan was singled out while passing through immigration counters.

Also in the entourage was Abdul Hadi's press secretary Mohd Nasaie Ismail, who told Malaysiakini that it was the first time Mazlan - also a PAS central committee member - was barred from entering the state.

NONE"An immigration officer named Iskandar simply told us that Mazlan could not come in because of instructions from the chief minister.

"The officer then produced a letter which stated that it was the CM's instructions to bar him from Sarawak. He did not tell us why the instructions were issued," said Nasaie.

Mazlan will be deported back to Kota Kinabalu on an afternoon flight today.

"I think that the CM Abdul Taib Mahmud is scared of Mazlan. He is scared that Mazlan will expose his various land scams in Sarawak," said Nasaie.

Although there are no Felda settlements in the state, there is a similar program called Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Salcra) run by the state government.

Abdul Hadi was let through to carry out his various programmes in the Miri town, albeit with heavy police escort, which Nasaie said was "unusual".

The PAS group was in the state for a variety of ‘meet-the-people' programs, as well as to hear out their welfare and infrastructure problems.

Sarawak is infamous for barring non-local dissidents and opposition politicians from entering the state.

Apart from Subang MP R Sivarasa and Padang Serai MP N Gobalakrishnan, who were barred from Sarawak last year, the recent state election saw Bersih 2.0 steering committee chairperson S Ambiga, and activists Steven Ng and Wong Chin Huat denied entry.