Refused Malaysian passport, UK-based secessionist Doris Jones goes British route

Doris Jones is said to be behind a controversial social media movement called Sabah Sarawak Keluar Malaysia or SSKM, shown in this screenshot from Facebook.KOTA KINABALU, Oct 6 — Pouring scorn over Malaysian authorities’ “dirty tactics” in refusing to renew her Malaysian passport, Sabah secession activist Doris Jones said she will simply obtain British travel documents instead.

The 45-year-old paralegal rebuffed offers from the Malaysian government for an emergency certificate travel document that will accord her one-way travel to Putrajaya and said she will be staying in the UK for now.

“I don’t think that one-way travel trip will be of use at the moment. However, it raises a lot of questions. Why have they ‘refused’ my passport renewal? And why Putrajaya? I do not need to go there for my passport,” she said, adding she was constitutionally entitled to her passport.

Jones, a sino-Kadazan who has lived in the UK for about 17 years, told the Malay Mail Online that she qualified under British naturalisation laws for a passport by way of the years she has resided there with her son, which was born in the UK.

“I had no intention of doing that (applying for a British passport) at all. I was contemplating returning to Malaysia to see the sedition case of the Tuaran 4, and see what’s going on with my warrant, but the Malaysian government has made the choice for me by not issuing me my passport,” she said.

The controversial secession advocate had posted on her Facebook account that she was issued a collection notice to pick up her new passport at the Malaysian High Commission in London on September 30 only to be hold that her application was refused.

She was later offered an alternative travel document to Putrajaya, but only for a single trip and specifically to the Malaysian administrative capital.

Jones said that the emergency certificate was a “dirty tactic” by Malaysian authorities to bully her and revoking her passport, despite not being able to charge her with any crime in any court.

“The Malaysian High Commission also told me they were notified of a warrant of arrest issued on me, but when I asked them for any black and white, they could not show me anything,” she said.

Jones said that she last came to Malaysia some four years ago and stayed for seven weeks.

She also said often felt unsafe when she was traveling alone and was advised by the British Home office to check in with the local police station in her area for safety reasons.

In February, police announced they have a warrant of arrest for Jones under her registered name as Doris Yapp Kim Yuon, 45, for sedition.

She is behind a Facebook group which actively promotes discourse on secession of Sabah and Sarawak from Malaysia.

Sabah police commissioner Datuk Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman had said they would seek Interpol’s help to find Jones in the UK where she is said to be residing, but British law does not recognise the crime and police have conceded they are not able to extradite Jones and can only act against her when she returns to the country.

- malaymail