Malaysiakini 's report, [#1] Police report against Sunday rally cites 'racial tension' [/#], Feb 1) whilst not inaccurate in any way, may give the impression to readers that those who lodged the police report last Thursday afternoon including myself were asking the police to stop the gathering per se. This is not the case. This was clarified during the press conference itself and reported briefly in the print media, for example the New Straits Times of Friday, Feb 2.

What we emphasised in the press conference was that the organisers had the right to gather peacefully and that should be respected. What we were strongly opposed to was the use by the organisers of images of violence such as the unsheathed kris and also the incitement to racial hatred in some of their publicity materials. These materials were given to the police for investigation.

I need to restate the Barisan Alternatif's position on principle on these issues based on our joint Manifesto "Towards a Just Malaysia". We uphold the right to peaceful public assembly. We do not accept that this should be subjected to total and arbitrary control by the police by issuance of permits which is the situation now in the Police Act of the Barisan Nasional. We would repeal or drastically amend the Police Act.

We also believe in the right of freedom of expression. If a group of a people want to peacefully (and we stress peacefully) espouse an ideology, for example, of race-based politics, we would defend that group's right to do so, whilst we are clear we do not agree with that ideology because we don't believe in communal or race-based politics. We therefore say, have your meetings on Malay unity by all means. As far as we are concerned, this is a lost cause as the majority of Malays who support BA do not see any such problem. The real problems facing our country are different.

But what we do not condone, as a matter of principle and particularly because of the multiracial nature of our country, is any kind of incitement to racial or religious hatred or violence. This, we consider, a criminal offence. Persons who do this must be arrested and charged for this offence. If they show a tendency to continue making such racially inflammatory statements, then they should be denied bail pending their trial.

Of course not all such incitement is clear-cut - there are grey areas. What we say is when the incitement is clear, the police should intervene. In the case of some of the methods used by the Malay Action Front organisers, their images and language methods were clearly inflammatory.

May I spell out the obvious in case it is not obvious to BN politicians and the various enforcement authorities: Peaceful gatherings to protest corruption, abuses of power, unjust court judgments are not expressions of racial or religious hatred. These are legitimate expressions of dissatisfaction by citizens.