The government has been urged to honour its promise to repeal the Public Assembly Act 2012 (PAA), rather than reduce the amount of time required for organisers to notify the police about upcoming gatherings.
Section 9(1) of the PAA currently states that organisers must submit a notice to the police at least 10 days before a gathering or assembly is scheduled to be held.
Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) legal bureau chief K Kunasekaran said there would be little difference should the cabinet merely move to reduce the notice period from 10 days to seven days, as mentioned by Defence Minister Mohamad Sabu at his ministry's recent buka puasa function.
"What is the difference between 10 days and seven days?
"What message is the government trying to send with the reduced notice period?" he questioned.
"The government should instead honour their manifesto promise to repeal the law," Kunasekaran told Malaysiakini when contacted today.
He said a failure to do so would be another "U-turn" for the Pakatan Harapan government, making the administration not much different from its BN predecessor.
Mohamad said last week that the cabinet has decided that the 10-day period to notify the police will be reduced to seven days, in order to facilitate organisers holding any gatherings or rallies.
“If previously they need to notify within 10 days, now its seven days, so we make it easier.
"If they want to rally, speak up or protest, go ahead," he said.
"What we are really watching out for is there must not be any radical elements, Islamic State, armed groups or others.
"We are monitoring that closely right now," he said. - Mkini
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