The people should speak up to oppose Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s plan to turn the country into a national prison where his critics and opponents and that of the government are prohibited from travelling freely overseas, added Lim who is also Gelang Patah MP.

Lim has been left wondering whether Malaysia remains an open and democratic society or was regressing towards becoming an autocratic and closed society like the North Korean communist regime.

This is a policy question which should involve every Minister and Deputy Minister in view of the “hair-raising” undemocratic and arbitrary decisions to bar critics and opponents of the government, said Lim.

All Barisan Nasional (BN) Ministers and Deputy Ministers, including the Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed, should be told in no uncertain terms that the issuance of a passport was a fundamental right conferred by the Federal Constitution, stressed the DAP veteran.

“It’s not a privilege and not subject to arbitrary denial or withdrawal, depending on the whims and fancies of the powers-that-be.”

Lim thinks that Suhakam should give the entire Cabinet a primer on human and constitutional rights of the people. “The Cabinet seems to be one of the bodies in the country which is woefully ignorant about the Federal Constitution and human rights.”

Lim said that he had asked on Friday whether any Minister would resign on a matter of principle if the Cabinet was not prepared to countermand the “arbitrary and undemocratic ban” on Chin and Pua from freely traveling overseas.

He lamented that he had not heard that any Minister or Deputy Minister was resigning his or her post in protest against the country lurching towards undemocratic and arbitrary practices.

“Such practices have so far been the hallmark of communist and closed societies, representing a major and fundamental difference with democratic and open societies.”