No more consent needed: Peaceful Assemblies Act to be amended, Section 11 requirement to be scrapped, says PM Anwar
University students take part in the anti-Corruption rally in January. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said Putrajaya will remove problematic Section 11 which has been an obstacle to demonstrators as it requires the consent of the owner or occupier of the place of assembly.
Thursday, 13 Feb 2025 11:07 AM MYT
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 13 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the Peaceful Assemblies Act 2012 will be amended in the next parliamentary session.
He further said that Putrajaya will remove problematic Section 11 which has been an obstacle to demonstrators as it requires the consent of the owner or occupier of the place of assembly.
“The government agrees to amend the Peaceful Assemblies Act 2012 to ease and to help bodies or groups that have decided to hold peaceful assemblies.
“This means the need to get approval for certain locations will be amended or removed. Section 11 of the Act — requiring obtaining approval from the owner or occupier of the place will be removed from the rules,” the prime minister said in Parliament.
Anwar, who had participated in rallies before he was once again voted in to form a government, said that his government had issued a moratorium for the police to ignore the problematic provision.
He emphasised that currently the police only needed to receive a notification from demonstrators five days beforehand to ensure public safety and to manage traffic.
“With this, some of the actions taken before this including investigating the anti-corruption rally, all of those investigations will be ceased and no action will be taken.
“The same goes to the hunger strike against Sosma (Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012) a few days ago. Action will not be taken,” the prime minister said in response to a question by government backbencher Khoo Poay Tiong (PH-Kota Melaka) during the Prime Minister’s Question Time.
Previously, it was reported that the police had called in over 10 university students linked to the Anti-Corruption rally in January to record their statements.
The rally saw over 200 participants.
Over a week ago, media reported that several family members of Sosma detainees began a hunger strike outside Sungai Buloh Prison in protest after their visitation requests were denied, while also calling for the abolition of the Act.
The police were reportedly investigating the hunger strike under Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assemblies Act 2012.
The organisers can be fined up to RM10,000 if found guilty of not submitting a notice of the gathering to police beforehand.
Actually it's not so simple.
ReplyDeleteThere are real and proper safety and security issues if demonstrators carry out a protest on private property without the owner's consent.
What has been objectionable before this is the Police and other government authorities abuse of the consent requirement to deny proposed gatherings in public parks and open areas, for example, and arrest and charge participants in such gatherings even when those gatherings have been completely peaceful and orderly.