Election reform group Bersih 2.0 said there were sections in the PAA that were too restrictive and criminalised those who wanted to exercise their democratic and constitutional right to assemble peacefully in a protest.
“The requirement to give the police five days notice in advance under Section 9(1) of the law can be unreasonable as quite often there are issues that require a quick response,” Bersih 2.0 chairman Thomas Fann told FMT.
He said a 24-hour notice should suffice as the police force was supposed to respond to these types of situations at short notice.
Fann added that another restrictive section of the law was PAA Section 4(2)(b), which says peaceful assemblies cannot be held within 50 metres of a prohibited area. He said one could not organise a protest in an urban centre if the police chose to consistently enforce this law.
He also said many expectations were placed on organisers and participants of assemblies but little was said about what could be expected of the police to facilitate the conduct of an orderly and peaceful assembly.
“The police should be active in controlling traffic and create a safe environment for protesters instead of taking a passive role to block protesters, record and collect video or photo evidence of violations.”
Meanwhile, Undi18 co-founder Qyira Yusri said the 5-day notice period should be scrapped because pertinent issues could sometimes happen on very short notice.
She also said a 24-hour notice period should be enough, adding that while the law did not prevent people from gathering, the notice period made it difficult for people to organise a protest.
“In order for a healthy democracy, people should be given the right to protest and speak up, especially in an emergency when we know we cannot rely on our elected representatives to voice out on our behalf,” she told FMT.
Qyira added that the police should facilitate these kinds of events and not limit them because they were often reactions to what was happening in the country at that time.
“If we actively limit and suppress these platforms, it would show Malaysia to be a very suppressive nation where we don’t welcome healthy discourse at all.”
Yesterday, housing and local government minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said peaceful assemblies should not be subjected to any police investigation and called for the law to be reviewed to allow this.
She said this in response to the police probe into participants of a gathering in support of Undi18 in front of Parliament last week. Undi18 is an initiative to allow youths aged 18 and above to vote.