It said Malaysians living overseas had been warned that they could be barred from travelling for three years upon their return if they discredited or ridiculed the government in any way.

The New Zealand Herald report said Bersih 2.0 was planning a mass rally at Aotea Square on Nov 19 as part of a global protest aimed at pushing the Malaysian Government to be more accountable and for electoral reform.

Rally organiser Lydia Chai, 36, who has been living in Auckland since 2001, told the paper she expected about 1,000 people to turn up for the rally – similar to the number that attended last year’s protest.

“The government has tried to bully us into keeping silent, but many Malaysians are now sick of the threats and are realising keeping quiet is not going to change anything,” Chai was quoted as saying by the New Zealand Herald.

“I decided quite recently that I can’t be afraid anymore, it is my right to speak and if I see my government doing something wrong then I’m going to stand up for what’s right.”

Chai said the rally was to demand for free elections, clean government and for the prime minister to step down.

“I will not be bullied and I’m not afraid of their threats,” Chai told the New Zealand Herald.

Last year, Malaysians in Auckland also protested in solidarity with thousands of Malaysians who had taken to the streets of Kuala Lumpur in the Bersih rally.

In May, a report in The Star quoted an Immigration Department source as saying that anyone who ridiculed the government would be barred from going abroad. The ruling was also applicable to Malaysians overseas, he said.

The then Immigration Department director-general Sakib Kusmi did not deny there was such a ruling, when contacted by The Star, but said that the government had the power to issue, defer or revoke any passport.