“The rejection of the said notice is misconceived, unlawful and quite absurd. Since when do indoor debates require the sanction of the police?”
“An indoor debate is not a public assembly; it is merely a debate between two persons with an audience,” he said in a statement today.
The debate is scheduled to be held in the hall of Maktab Rendah Sains Mara (MRSM) in Kuala Kangsar on March 25.
Police said they had rejected the application for a permit to hold a public debate between Mahathir and Nazri as the organisers had submitted the application form late and because such an event was not allowed on school premises.
Bernama quoted acting Perak Police chief Hasnan Hassan as saying that the application was only received yesterday evening from a representative of the Karangkraf Media Group under Section 9(1) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012. It was rejected by the Kuala Kangsar police chief.
Hasnan said the organiser should have informed the district police at least 10 days ahead of the date.
But Surendran said the requirement of a 10-day notice only applied under the Peaceful Assembly Act and was, therefore, not necessary.
Since the debate was not an assembly, he said, any attempt by the police to interfere or block it would be in breach of Article 10 of the Federal Constitution which guarantees freedom of speech and expression.
“The police have no legal authority to ban the event or take action against participants or organisers,” he said.
“In fact, the organisers are not under any kind of legal obligation to give any notice to the police.”
The Padang Serai MP said the police should have treated the notice given by the debate organisers as voluntary information instead of announcing that they had rejected it.
“There is thus no legal obstacle whatsoever preventing the debate from being carried out,” he said.
The proposal for a debate came about after Mahathir, who is chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), challenged Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri to a debate on political and economic matters affecting the nation.
He had cited specific topics such as 1MDB, the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance (BMF) scandal and the deposit of RM2.6 billion into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bank account.