FOR NATIONAL-LEVEL EVENTS: City Hall will not allow any form of protest or demonstration to be held there
KUALA LUMPUR-ONLY national-level activities like Merdeka Day, Federal Territories Day and New Year's celebrations were allowed to be held at Dataran Merdeka, said City Hall mayor Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail.
It is the City Hall's policy to ban any form of rallies or demonstrations from being held at Dataran Merdeka because of its national and historical significance.
In a statement yesterday, Ahmad Fuad said it was for this reason that the application by Pertubuhan Jaringan Melayu Malaysia (JMM) to hold a public rally against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transvestite (LGBT) practices was rejected.
JMM planned to hold the rally today.
Ahmad Fuad said JMM president Azwanddin Hamzah sent a letter to him dated April 10 asking for a permission to hold the rally there.
"The letter was received on April 11 and the application was turned down by City Hall deputy director-general (management) Datuk Normah Malik via a letter dated April 16," he said.
Ahmad Fuad said such an activity was not suitable to be held there.
"On the same day, a royal concert is to be held in conjunction with the installation of the 14th Yang Di-Pertuan Agong.
"All preparations for the concert have been made at Dataran Merdeka."
Azwanddin sent an appeal personally on Thursday, citing reasons why JMM's application should be considered.
"I met him and told him that the application would not be considered as it is our policy not to allow any form of assembly resembling a protest or demonstration from being held at Dataran Merdeka which has historical and national significance," Ahmad Fuad said.
"Its usage is intended solely for national-level celebrations."
The decision, Ahmad Fuad added, was also in line with the Local Government Bylaw (Dataran Merdeka, Federal Territory, Kuala Lumpur) 1997.
Azwanddin had said they understood the concerns raised by Ahmad Fuad over staging the assembly at Dataran Merdeka.
"We respect the mayor's decision and acknowledge that we have a sense of responsibility to road users as well as businessmen who may be affected by our actions," he said on Thursday.
- New Straits Times
Hi datuk bandar, don’t behave like a dictator! You are appointed by the BN baru government as a caretaker of the property of city offices and the collection of monies from the people. You don’t represent the citizens of the CITY of KUALA LUMPUR.
ReplyDeleteBy rights and democratic convention, the Datuk Bandar should be elected among the nine MPs (of Pakatan Rakyat) out of 10 MPs elected by universal suffrage in 2008 by all the citizens of the CITY. The real Datuk Bandar is the people’s representative. Dataran Merdeka is the property of the CITY and her people; and 90% of the city folks want to hold a two or three hour national function there to preserve the sanctity of Malaysia Independence, is there a problem? You better act judiciously to the interest and needs of the citizens.