VOXPOP ‘Why pass a law that still renders our fundamental rights illusory and ineffective in practice? The police still have the right to object to any assembly.’

Done deal - Peaceful Assembly Bill passed

Ruben: So far, all the street protests have been peaceful. What was not peaceful was the police high-handedness and brutality, such as the firing of tear gas and water cannons into Tung Shin Hospital.

If this is what you call democratic reforms, then none of us want it.

Ben-ghazi: This is how the BN goes to campaign for GE13. Just tie the hands of opposition parties and punch them real hard. The BN will not give a level-playing field to its opponents. They never had, and never will.

They want to win the elections by lopsided campaigning through the TVs which they own, including RTM (Rancangan Tak Memuaskan).

When they lose the GE13 they will regret because they cannot hold street protests to vent their anger at their loss. When power returns to the people, they will know what 'helplessness' means.

AkuMelayu: The rakyat should be thankful that this Bill has finally seen the light of day. It means that there will be no more disruptions to our daily life. No more horrendous traffic jams on a Saturday.

And most importantly, Pakatan Rakyat supporters need not have to be used as human shields from the law enforcers by their leaders who will be having their cappuccinos in fancy cafes in grand hotels during the demonstrations.

Pronto: Sometime I wonder why Pakatan MPs walk out and give in without any fight. They should stay put and vote against it. It looked like they are part of the drama. I do not think they can win the next election and take over Putrajaya. Who else can help us?

Good Men: BN only needed a simple majority to pass this bill, we all knew which way this was going. I think a walkout sends a stronger message: this bill did not even deserve a debate.

Even laymen can see that it was geared to stop assembly. It was meant to prevent the people exercising their right of assembly as already enshrined in the constitution - there was nothing to debate. It was a bill that was enacted to blatantly put fear into the people against ever considering assembling.

Do you have a spare RM20,000 sitting around to pay the fine in case you are arrested? Even the Bersih 2.0 protesters would have thought twice if this Act had been in place then. You would have got less than half the turnout, I'm guessing. And that's the BN's objective.

Some commentators said BN learned nothing from Bersih 2.0. I beg to differ, I believe they learned a lot. Now they are putting those lessons to use. They are going to reintroduce the fear into the rakyat so that Bersih 3.0 will not happen.

Anonymous_4196: I felt that I just got spat on by the government.

Ferdtan: Now we must fight to have a Malaysian version of Magna Charta. It was an English charter in the 13th century whereby its citizens forced to limit the absolute powers of the king (this case, we read as dictatorial BN government) by law.

Some parts of the agreement still remained today in the British constitution; and Lord Denning described it as 'the greatest constitutional document of all times - the foundation of the freedom of the individual against the arbitrary authority of the despot'.

We call all Malaysians to come out to show disgust at the government for the removal of our right to be heard. We shall not be cowed and be silenced. We have one weapon - let's use our vote. Let this be the tipping point of the downfall of BN government.

Pakatan walks out on Assembly Bill vote

Ksn: This is the best what Pakatan can do under the circumstances - walking out for not being given enough time to debate. This Bill should correctly be called Umno-BN’s Bill Against Freedom of Assembly.

Meanwhile, the Bar Council has done its best as well. I hope that the Bar will challenge the Bill for going against the constitution which guarantees freedom of assembly, one of the fundamental rights of citizens.

PM Najib Razak not only went against his promise to amend the current restrictions against assembly but introduced a new bill more restrictive. Umno-BN will pay dearly for it.

Gerard Samuel Vijayan: This bill is nothing but a farce in the name of democracy. The police will still object to any assembly on the spurious grounds of public order and security when it does not serve the interests of Umno-BN and the ruling elite.

The absurd restrictions and limits placed in the bill are neither proportionate nor reasonable to the fundamental right to freedom of assembly under Article 10 of the constitution and again the government has vested too much power in the police who are a discredited body that does not command the respect or trust of the vast majority of law-abiding citizens.

Why pass a law that still renders our fundamental rights illusory and ineffective in practice? This public relations exercise of Prime Minister Najib Razak is going to rebound on him come GE13 and consign the BN into the dustbin of history.

Swkdayaks: That’s why Malaysians must not allow BN to win the coming general election. BN will say they got the mandate from the voters to do what BN wants to do, like passing this repressive law that denies us of our basic right to peacefully assemble.

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