House passes amended Peaceful Assembly Bill unanimously
The Dewan Rakyat today passed the Peaceful Assembly (Amendment) Bill 2019 unanimously with two amendments.
The first amendment is for the notification sent to the police by the organiser, reduced to five days compared to an initial proposal of seven days.
The Dewan Rakyat today passed the Peaceful Assembly (Amendment) Bill 2019 unanimously with two amendments.
The first amendment is for the notification sent to the police by the organiser, reduced to five days compared to an initial proposal of seven days.
Currently, under Section 9(1) of the PAA, an assembly organiser needed to notify the police 10 days prior to the rally.
The second amendment reduces the timeframe of the police reply to the organiser to three days from the existing five days.
The amendments were brought by Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin during the bill's committee stage.
"After listening to the views of the honourable lawmakers, I think the first step for us to do is further reduce the notification days from seven to five," he said.
Lawmakers from both sides of the divide had urged the government to reduce the notifications period.
BN lawmaker Noh Omar proposed a one-day notice while Pakatan Harapan lawmaker Chang Lih Kang asked for a three-day notice to the police.
Chang also urged the government to allow the children to participate in peaceful assemblies.
The existing act bans children under 15 from participating in an assembly.
However, in his response, Muhyiddin said the government had no intention to amend this provision in order to safeguard the safety of children.
