Rally: Police's actions threaten public's constitutional right

SHAH ALAM - Police actions have threatened the public's constitutional right to peaceful assembly just after Perikatan Nasional's (PN) proposed its upcoming rally.

Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) executive director Sevan Doraisamy said that the police attempted to curtail the public's constitutional right to peacefully assemble.

"We refer to the pre-rally warnings issued yesterday of stern action against the organiser and participants of PN's upcoming 'Save Malaysia Movement' on Sept 16 rally," he said in a recently released statement.

He added that layered police barricades were present at Plaza Tugu Negara to prevent organisers and protesters of Lawan Lapar from marching to Parliament to submit their memorandum on food security to lawmakers.

"We strongly condemn these acts. The pre-rally warnings are an age-old tactic by previous government administrations to clamp down on 'highly sensitive' public assemblies, even when there is and was no indication that these assemblies were non-peaceful," he said.

Furthermore, Sevan said the layered police barricade this morning is eerily similar to the human chains of police officers during the Walk for Judicial Independence last year.

He said that the imposition of unlawful conditions by the police was also observed in both public assemblies, with the Lawan Lapar assembly involving the submission of the memorandum at the barricaded site and the Walk for Judiciary Independence involving a quota of representatives who would be allowed to go to Parliament.

"As self-proclaimed 'reformists,' the current government should know better than to perpetuate state intimidation to curtail the right to peaceful assembly, especially when many of its members experienced this practice firsthand due to organising or participating in public assemblies while in opposition.

"It is crucial that the police not only allow but also facilitate the Sept 16 rally when PN has committed to cooperation with the law enforcement agency on the event.

"Furthermore, the government must take concrete steps, including amending or repealing the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, to ensure that Malaysians can fully exercise their fundamental freedom of peaceful assembly without discrimination," he said.