5 days notice too long for peaceful protests, NGOs tell govt

[superadmin]

PETALING JAYA: Two non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have urged the government to review the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA) as the current 5-day notice to hold an assembly is obstructive.

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.


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