(AFP) Malaysia's largest opposition party vowed today to defy a ban on political rallies despite a police crackdown.

Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) president Fadzil Noor said a nationwide ban on "ceramah" or public rallies was unconstitutional and aimed at silencing the opposition.

"We are not going against the police. We just ask them to be fair and be professional. Don't treat the opposition like criminals."

Fadzil said PAS and its opposition allies have no access to the mainstream media and must resort to rallies to reach out to their supporters.

The police two weeks ago imposed an indefinite ban on open-space public political gatherings nationwide, citing security concerns.

Today's Star newspaper said hundreds of riot policemen were deployed to block 33 gatherings organised by PAS across central Selangor state late Tuesday.

On the same night, police dispersed a crowd of some 500 people at a rally in northeastern Terengganu state, while on Sunday they broke up a gathering in southern Johor state.

Police threaten use of ISA

Nine people were arrested in Johor and Selangor.

Selangor state police chief Nik Ismail Nik Yusof warned that action would be taken against parties flouting the ban, including the use of the Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows detention without trial.

Nik was quoted by The Sun as saying that the only gatherings allowed were party meetings at headquarters or designated areas.

The New Straits Times said PAS was planning to organise at least 48 public rallies nationwide within the next two weeks.

PAS is the dominant party in an opposition alliance with the National Justice Party led by the wife of jailed ex-deputy premier Anwar Ibrahim, the Malaysian People's Party and the Democratic Action Party.

PAS tripled its parliamentary seats to 27 in 1999 elections, at the expense of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's United Malays National Organisation (Umno), which lost 22 seats to 72.

PAS controls Terengganu and neighbouring Kelantan states.