The National Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) singled out the organisers of the Sept 16 'Red Shirt' rally as being the only party "uncooperative" to its monitoring efforts last year.

The rally held at Petaling Street was one out of six major public assemblies observed by Suhakam, and the findings were recorded in Suhakam's annual report 2015 released today.

"We had a problem with the Red Shirt rally," said Suhakam commissioner James Nayagam, who presented the findings at a press conference at the commission's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

"The other five organisers all agreed to cooperate with Suhakam and allow observers.

"Organiser of rally number six (Red Shirt) rejected Suhakam but we still proceeded to observe the rally," said Nayagam, who noted that there has been an overall improvement on respect for the right to freedom of assembly.

The Red Shirt rally saw a crowd of some 800 protesters who tried to force their way into the predominantly Chinese business district in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, popularly known as Chinatown.

Sungai Besar Umno division chief Jamal Md Yunos had first announced that the protest would be held as a counter-move to the Bersih 4 rally on Aug 29 and 30.

Commenting further, Nayagam said there also appears to be greater coordination between organisers and the authorities on duty, with exception of the Red Shirt rally.

"We observed increased interaction between organisers and the police.

"Suhakam would like to commend the police over their handling of the rallies," he said.

The other five rallies monitored by Suhakam last year were the Kita Lawan (March 7), Bantah GST (May 1), Stop Rape (June 7), At The Edge (Aug 8) and Bersih 4 (Aug 29-Aug 30).