Police have revoked its approval for a debate between former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, less than 24 hours after giving its nod, according to the organiser Kumpulan Media Karangkraf.
The company’s managing director Hussamuddin Yaacub this evening took to Twitter to share a letter from the Shah Alam district police headquarters informing them that the approval had been revoked.
“Strange. The dialogue between Mahathir and Nazri - yesterday we received a letter approving the permit. This evening the permit was revoked,” he said.
The letter said the abrupt cancellation was due to complaints made to the police.
“The Shah Alam district police headquarters had received objections from residents in the surrounding area.
“After studying and considering the matter based on public order, the peaceful assembly permit reference 4/17 dated March 31 is cancelled,” it said.
Following this, Hussamuddin said Karangkraf will abandon efforts to organise the debate, according to a video by Sinar.TV.
“As an organisation that respects the government of the day, we decided... actually we’ve lost interest to proceed with the debate, therefore the debate will be cancelled,” he said.
Hussamuddin pointed out that his group had previously organised 45 such dialogues without problem and hopes to continue doing so.
Yesterday, Hussamuddin had shared a letter from the police okaying the debate with several conditions.
In the letter, police informed the organiser to ensure that the participants at the event do not act or make any statement that would incite anger or animosity among the members of the public, or disturb the peace.
The debate was to take place on April 7 at the Karangkraf headquarters at Shah Alam from 7pm to 12pm.
When contacted, Shah Alam district police headquarters Shafien Mamat declined to elaborate on the matter.
“I will comment tomorrow, a press conference will be held,” he told Malaysiakini.
The debate was previously supposed to take place on March 25 in Kuala Kangsar but was also aborted after Perak police refused to grant approval.
Pelik,Dialog Tun M vs Ds Nazri, semalam kami terima surat lulus permit. Petang ni terima surat batal permit. Payah!!
-Mkini
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