KUALA LUMPUR – Kuala Lumpur police chief Datuk Allaudeen Abdul Majid has clarified that notices for the Women’s March Malaysia were returned to organisers due to incomplete documents.
The fifth notice submitted by the organisers yesterday at the Dang Wangi police headquarters was also incomplete, Allaudeen said today.
However, police accepted the notice and the gathering is to proceed on Saturday, starting in front of Sogo on Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman at about 9am.
“Notices have to be made according to Section 9(1) of the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) 2012. The law stipulates requirements for the notice given to police, (such as) using the form provided (under the law),” Allaudeen told reporters after an event, here, today.
“The form is a legal document under the act. It cannot be simply amended by disregarding sections (organisers are) unable to fill in.
“The first notice we received was incomplete. We called them (organisers) after that to inform them that the notice is incomplete,” he added.
Yesterday, Women’s March Malaysia representative Deborah A. claimed that police did not provide a reason for why authorities had rejected the group’s previous notices on the assembly.
In an earlier statement, the group said that between March 1 and March 3, four attempts were made to notify Dang Wangi police about the march.
The group also claimed that their documents were sighted by a Dang Wangi officer who “refused to officially stamp said documents.”
Meanwhile, Allaudeen today said police have a responsibility to check the documents for notices of assemblies, stressing that the document is not a “permit” as alleged by certain quarters.
“After we receive a submission, we will check the documents (as police) require approval from the landowner. If there’s no permission and they (organisers) carry on with the event, and then the landowner makes a report, what happens then?” he questioned.
“Police have never called (the document) a permit, it was organisers who called it that.
“You can’t submit something that is not provided for under the law (and) the permit (for mass gatherings) has been abolished.”
He also said that police require knowledge of an event’s route as they can then direct organisers, noting that authorities will also have to make arrangements for dispatched manpower and potential road closures. Former Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah previously said it was wrong for police to reject Women’s March Malaysia’s notices on its assembly as the amended PAA states that police permission is no longer required for gathering permits. – March 5, 2024
