YOURSAY 'It is becoming increasingly clear and even more evident, not that it ever was not, that the hallmark of the Umno regime is deception and fake promises.'

Peaceful Assembly Bill 2011 bans street protest

Vijay47: It is becoming increasingly clear and even more evident, not that it ever was not, that the hallmark of the Umno regime is deception and fake promises.

From the prime minister right down to the least lackey, almost every statement they make reflects the truth that is not, that their words mean nothing save to give them some self-induced state of euphoria.

PM Najib Razak is most capable of making the right sounds about well-being for the nation, and about being the best democracy in the world.

Despite knowing better, we were all led to hope and believe that miraculously, Umno had finally realised that the brutal ‘Mahathir days' could not continue and that minimally better days lay ahead.

This latest bill, with its even more restrictive clauses, shows that Umno just cannot be trusted. The bill does not offer any concession nor any relaxation of the unjust repugnant milieu that Umno is.

No doubt to Najib, it is just another day at the office.

SusahKes: Read between the lines and it appears that Umno is basically trying to stave off Bersih 3.0.

If Najib announces the general election anytime soon, as predicted by some, and the parliamentary select committee (PSC) on electoral reforms fails to provide a decisive outcome on Bersih 2.0's eight points, then what effectively happens is that you need 30 days to get the minister's approval for a march.

And when you have ministers in Bolehland who are more interested in counting cows than serving the rakyat, you can bet your bottom dollar that Umno is hedging against Bersih 3.0.

By the way, what are ‘designated' areas as defined by the minister? Behind our houses, is it? Now seriously, do you expect Home Minister Hishammuddin ‘keris kisser' Hussein to tell you where you should march?

Dood: Screw the ‘Peaceful Assembly Bill'. How about calling it true to what it really is, like ‘Suppression of Democratic Rights Bill'?

Jstom: Or name it 'No Peaceful Assembly (except Umno members) Bill'?

Hermit: As expected, Najib has taken everyone on a ride with the proposed Peaceful Assembly Bill.

This is what Najib has lauded about transforming this country into a world's best democracy. He has already ‘transformed' the economy, and the next stage is transforming the draconian laws into even more draconian laws.

Ben-ghazi: What a restrictive law. Not surprising, coming from lawyers like Minister in the PM's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz and Hishammuddin.

Just imagine, we need to give a 30-day notice for every assembly. Is that so the police has plenty of time to weigh the pros and cons? Most probably, they will 'con' the assembly and declare it as not beneficial to BN.

But the law can also work both ways. When the BN is in the opposition (hopefully) after the 13th general election, they will regret passing this law because it is going to tie their hands to their back, and they will be 'punched' by their own stupidity and failure to look beyond two years.

Ferdtan: What is the difference between the old (no formal law governing the peaceful assembly) and the new bill? They are so restrictive and a lot of discretionary powers given to the authorities like the Home Ministry and the police that it would create nightmare for the organisers.

No street protest allowed? Then why do we have to walk? There must be something that we are not happy about that's making us walk - we need to shout out our displeasure to the public to highlight our plights.

Now we have laws to punish protesters up to RM20,000? Instead of encouraging peaceful assembly by having codified written laws - it in fact turns out to be an obstruction, discouraging peaceful protests.

They are putting the onus of responsibilities that is unreasonable to the organisers. This may spell the death knell to democracy - where peaceful assemblies are allowed.

Ric: "After notification, the assemblies can proceed unless there are objections by the police" is the same as having to obtain a police permit. Same shit, different name.

Boonpou: I'm pissed and pleased. I am pissed because it only goes to show that all the ‘broadcasting' by the current regime about changes, about studying and correcting all the dated draconian bills and ordinances in order to cater to the historical present amount to nothing but hot air.

At the same time, I am pleased because it is through their sheer aloofness and arrogant that they think they can still dictate what is legal (and thereby conflating it with legitimation) that would speed up their own demise.

Do go ahead and implement a new series of rhetorical bills, ordinances and amendments over existing draconian ones if you think the rakyat can be easily fooled by it, since this would only garner more votes for the opposition alliance.

I cannot believe the current leaders within Umno can be so simple-minded. It only goes to show how outdated they have become.

Nik V: Such bills are inferior to the federal constitution and not in good faith and meant to suppress its citizens their right to assembly.

Hence if any person writes a law that goes against the spirit of the constitution, are they not guilty of committing treason and should be charged?

Good Men: During Bersih 2.0, 1,600 arrested x RM20,000 each - that would have brought a tidy profit RM32 million for the police.

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