KUALA LUMPUR – Police have accepted a notice for a peaceful protest by Women’s March Malaysia and will allow the assembly to proceed this Saturday.
The group’s representative Deborah A. said their notice was received by officers at the Dang Wangi police headquarters today on the group’s fifth attempt.
The march will begin in front of the Sogo shopping complex in the city centre on March 9 at 9am, and will proceed to Dataran Merdeka.
Speaking to reporters outside the Dang Wangi station, Deborah said police did not give any reason why they rejected the group’s previous notices on the assembly.
“The notice sent today was the same notice that was submitted last Friday, though this time it was accepted without any issue,” Deborah said.
Holding a peaceful assembly is a constitutional right of citizens, Deborah added, urging police to grant other non-governmental organisations cooperation in exercising their freedom of speech.
“Our participants are always peaceful, the people who are not peaceful are the ones who harass the participants in the form of physical and online harassment,” she said.
Present with her was lawyer Nathalie Annette Kee who said the group had done everything by the book.
“Whatever regulations and laws that they have to comply with, have been complied with. I hope the participants will be protected by police, as it is a constitutional right to assemble safely,” Kee told reporters.
The Women’s March is a global protest in conjunction with Women’s Day on March 8. In Malaysia, organisers said on X that police had rejected the notice they submitted four times, on March 2 and 3.
Earlier today, former Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah said it was wrong for police to reject the group’s notices on the assembly that was originally scheduled to be held today.
Chin said, under the amended Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) 2012, police permission was no longer required for permits for gatherings, and organisers only needed to inform or notify police of their intended events.
“Police have no authority under the PAA to refuse the (holding of the) assembly. It must be stressed that the need for a ‘police permit’ is no longer applicable under the PAA. It is time that police familiarise themselves with the act,” Chin said in a statement urging the home Minister and inspector-general of police to correct police on this matter. – March 4, 2024