DON'T THREATEN City Hall protest organizers - SUARAM slams 'bully' IGP Khalid

SUARAM is disturbed to hear the threats of police chief on protest organizers outside the Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur (DBKL) held yesterday morning.

Inspector General of Police, Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar fails to learn and realize the interest and suffering of the common people. People are protesting to voice out the dissatisfaction towards the rate hike on residents in the federal territory.

The police force should take the stand to accommodate the protest which was to handover around 20 000 protest letters against the assessment hike in accordance to the interest of the public.

Earlier, the police was commended for their professional behavior on handling the traffic to assist the protest participants to drop off their objection letters. Unfortunately, the police chief undermined this with his threats.

SUARAM would like to remind the police force that their act of investigating protest organizers contravenes the following:

• Article 20 of the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights (UDHR) guarantees the right to assemble peacefully

• Article 10 of the Federal Constitution of Malaysia guarantees the freedom to assemble peacefully

The Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 clearly contradicts the Convention and other international human rights instruments and is an obstacle to the legitimate exercise of the fundamental right to assemble peacefully.

SUARAM urges the Royal Malaysian Police to discharge their duties in line with the provisions of the Federal Constitution and international human rights standards.

R.Thevarajan is the SUARAM Coordinator