Today, four of the 16 people named in the court order obtained by the police lodged a police report to strongly deny that the Himpunan May Day would create obstructions, annoyances, injuries or endanger human life, health or safety, or create a riot.

Bersih Sabah is composed of peaceful, law-abiding individuals to protect the constitutional rights of all legal citizens of Sabah and will abide by the decision of the courts of law. 

We reiterate that the intention of Bersih Sabah to organise Himpunan May Day was not to create chaos or nuisance as maliciously alleged by the police to the extent of the police obtaining a court order to effectively lock down the entire Kota Kinabalu city.

Our constitutional right to assemble as contained in Article 10 of the Federal Constitution was not only denied and infringed but was administratively abused by the Kota Kinabalu City Council (DBKK) declaring our Padang Merdeka as exclusively for government use only.

The whole idea of the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA) is that police are only supposed to control and look after the safety of the people during a peaceful assembly and not to file a court order to stop a

gathering. 

It appears that if one follows the law, you may end up being denied your constitutional right to gather. 

PAA is thus redundant in that it allows the police to file a court order to stop gatherings instead of allowing constitutional rights to assemble.

The police report that was filed also highlighted the malicious intention of the police to link the Himpunan May Day to the opposition parties by selectively naming respondents when they applied for the court order. 

Two of the respondents not involved in the Himpunan May Day, Wilfred Bumburing and Jeffrey Kitingan, were named, while other non-political people who were to speak at the gathering were left out.

Our lawyers are doing their best to challenge the court order and the right to peaceful assembly.

Bersih Sabah wants to reiterate that we may be denied our constitutional rights to assemble in the thousands but we believe the people will rise above this minor setback. 

We have launched on a campaign to highlight and advocate for support through social media and other means. 

Concerned citizens of Sabah who are unable to join the Himpunan May Day are encouraged to express their support for Bersih Sabah without fear by wearing yellow from today onwards, to gather and take a photo and post it on our website Bersih 3.0 Sabah or post it on twitter: @TapisSabah or Instagram: tapissabah.