The police have rejected the application for a permit to hold a candlelight vigil at Dataran Merdeka on Saturday, said organiser Abolish ISA Movement (GMI) today.

However, GMI has vowed to proceed with their the event despite that it would be declared as an illegal gathering by the police.

GMI chairperson Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh said that they have “given the government a chance” to allow them to exercise their constitutional rights but have again been frustrated.

“We have exhausted the proper avenue to acquire approval from the authorities to hold this peaceful gathering but they have insulted us. We will proceed (with the gathering),” said Syed Ibrahim at a press conference held at the Chinese Assembly Hall today.

The group had previously faxed their application for a permit on Dec 28 last year and the police called them to discuss the matter yesterday.

Upon meeting, the group was shocked to find out that the permit has not been granted because the vigil is considered "a threat to national security" and that the event would cause traffic congestion.

Syed Ibrahim also revealed that the Dang Wangi district police chief ACP Mohd Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman claimed that the police did not receive the initial application which was sent on Dec 26 .

This prompted GMI to send another application two days later.

Subsequently, in a letter dated yesterday, Mohd Zulkarnain informed Syed Ibrahim that police permit was denied for five reasons.

In addition to GMI being an unregistered organisation and that the event would cause traffic congestion, the other reasons are:

- From police information, there are some unknown groups that could use the opportunity to cause public disturbance and endanger the safety of participants.

- The organisers had failed to obtain an approval letter from the Kuala Lumpur City Hall for the use of Dataran Merdeka.

- That GMI is not a duly registered organisation.

One last appeal

In line with their peaceful principles, Syed Ibrahim said they will make one last appeal with the police.

“We will fax a letter to the Kuala Lumpur police chief tomorrow to try and persuade them to let us practice our constitutional right to peacefully hold this candlelight vigil,” he said.

Another GMI representative and PAS leader Dr Hatta Ramli said that the excuses given by the police were absurd.

“The police gave even more ridiculous excuses like the event being a threat to national security,” lamented Hatta, the PAS treasurer.

He added that the excuse to deny GMI the permit because the body was not a registered organisation was also nonsensical as it was not an organisation by itself but rather a coalition of 81 registered groups.

He then argued that it was "an insult" to pigeonhole a peaceful gathering to commemorate ISA detainees as a dangerous event.

“Power fears us. The attempt to obstruct this event from materialising shows only that the police are here to serve those in power,” added another GMI representative Badrul Amin Baharum, who is also PKR’s supreme council member.

Suhakam invited

Another GMI representative, pro-tem PSM secretary-general S Arutchelvan personally guaranteed that the vigil would be peaceful.

“We invite members of the Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) to monitor our event and we can assure you that the vigil will be a peaceful one,” he added.

The anti-ISA group had initially planned to hold the candlelight vigil on Dec 22 last year but had to be postponed due to police's demand that the organisers apply for a permit.

The government has cracked down on a number of major mass rallies with tear gas and chemical-laced water late last year because no permits were granted for such gatherings.