KUALA LUMPUR: Street protests or demonstrations will be a thing of the past with the passing of the Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 in Dewan Rakyat yesterday, despite a march by the Malaysian Bar Council to Parliament to protest the controversial bill.

Dewan Rakyat passed the bill with only Barisan Nasional MPs casting their votes as the members of the Opposition had walked out in protest against the Bill.
Only three Opposition members were allowed to debate on the bill. They had all asked the House to retract the bill and appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to scrutinise it.

The Bill, which was tabled last Tuesday, was hailed as part of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s reforms.

Bar Council members join the walk from the Lake Club to Parliament to submit a memo to the goverment urging it to withdraw the Peaceful Assembly Bill yesterday.

However, the Bar Council issued a statement on the same day that it was surprised that “street protest” is prohibited, as it is a form of assembly in motion, or procession, that is already legally recognised in section 27 of the Police Act 1967. One of the points of contention was the 30-day requirement to submit notice to the police before the assembly date which the government has since amended to 10 days.

The Bill also gives powers to the police to impose restrictions and conditions on the assembly while a person can be fined up to RM10,000 for not abiding by the restrictions and conditions laid out.

Yesterday the Bar Council led its members and members from civil society in a peaceful walk to Parliament to hand over its open letter to the MPs and also its draft of the Peaceful Assembly Bill.

Bar Council president Lim Chee Wee said they decided to walk in protest as it was very much a part of Malaysian history.

“In 1946, Datuk Onn Jaafar led a procession of 15,000 individuals to protest against the proposal by the British colonialists to establish the Malayan Union which would disregard the interests of the rulers and Malays.”

Lim went on to say a series of processions to protest Malayan Union followed, and eventually the colonialists agreed not to establish it. He called on the government not to take away what lies at the very foundation of the nation “with the stroke of a pen”.

The Bar Council had briefed MPs from MCA, the Opposition and also leaders of the BN Backbenchers Club in the hope they would consider its alternative bill, he said.

Asked what the Bar Council’s next step would be if the Bill is passed, Lim said: “The Bar will continue to knock on the door of Parliament if this Bill makes it to the statute book in its current form. We will not give up hope.”

The Bar Council drafted an alternative bill within three days under the supervision of its former president Datuk Yeo Yang Poh. One of the highlights of the alternative bill is to establish a Peaceful Assembly Board of 25 members to hear applications from the police or organisers as opposed to the current bill where power lies with only the police.

The Bill will now go through the Dewan Negara and if passed, the government will then gazette it and decide on a date for it to take force.

This article appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, November 30, 2011.