THE police decision to deny organisers a permit for the “Save Malaysia” rally tomorrow is a blatant misconstruction of the law, a human rights group said. 

Lawyers for Liberty (LFL) director Zaid Malek said the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) does not give police the power to stop the Malaysia Day rally. 

People have every right to attend, said Zaid.

“Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department chief Suhaily Zain stated that the ‘application’ submitted for the September 16 rally was rejected as it failed to meet the requirements under the PAA. 

“Firstly, the police are either ignorant or misconstruing the law; there is no ‘application’ to be made for an assembly under the PAA. 

“The requirement states that the police must only be notified of the assembly,” the lawyer said. 

“There is no power for them under the act to outrightly deny anyone the right to assemble.”

Perikatan Nasional (PN) youth are planning a demonstration in Kampung Baru tomorrow to protest the controversial decision of the attorney-general to withdraw all 47 corruption charges in the graft trial of Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. 

However, yesterday Shuhaily said police had rejected the application for a permit because the organisers had left out important details in their submission.

Zaid today said the police were in fact notified of the upcoming assembly.

“Reading between the lines, we can infer that the notice was given five days before the upcoming rally as it was not cited as one of the reasons of the impropriety of the notice alleged by the police,” he said. 

“The OCPD (officer in charge police district) would thus have ample time to clarify with the organisers on the details of the assembly should he wish for the specifics to be clarified, as he is empowered to do. 

Zaid said section 14(1) of the PAA requires the OCPD to respond to the notification within three days of the receipt of the notification if he intends to impose any restriction and condition on the event.

“Failure to do so would mean that the assembly shall be allowed to proceed as per the notice.”

Zaid the PAA does not supersede article 10(1)(b) of the Federal Constitution, which guarantees the right to peaceful assembly.

“Any member of the Malaysian public who wishes to attend the rally have every right to do so irrespective of any alleged procedural impropriety to the requirements of the PAA.

“Any harassment or warnings by the police to ordinary participants of the rally would be unconstitutional and illegal,” he said. 

Zaid also took a swipe at the Anwar Ibrahim administration for allowing the police to employ fear and intimidation to frustrate the exercise of a constitutionally guaranteed right.

“The prime minister and Pakatan Harapan leaders, who carried out countless street rallies themselves, should respect and uphold this constitutional right now that they are in power. To do otherwise would be hypocrisy of the highest order.

“Thus, we strongly urge the government to ensure that the upcoming rally on Malaysia Day would be free from police harassment and intervention.” – September 15, 2023.