PAS has filed a legal suit seeking a court order that the governments blanket ban on ceramah (political gatherings) is unconstitutional.

The 24-paged summons was filed yesterday at the Kuala Lumpur High Court by lawyers Mohamed Hanipa & Associates on behalf of the party.

The party has named Home Affairs Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai and the Malaysian government as defendants.

We are also seeking to declare the order to ban ceramah a violation of the countrys laws. We are demanding the order to be canceled, said PAS secretary-general Nasharuddin Mat Isa in a press statement today.

In the suit, PAS has requested the court to declare that the defendants have abused their power by issuing a blanket ban on all ceramah in public places.

We will be calling witnesses, including top PAS leadership, to come forward and testify. They have been constantly harassed when giving ceramah throughout the country, he said.

The government imposed a total ban on ceramah in September last year to curb alleged incidences of violence during such gatherings.

A number of opposition leaders have been arrested but later released for participating in such illegal ceramah .

Opposition leaders said the ban is aimed at restricting even further the opposition capacity to communicate with the people.

National security

The Home Affairs ministry yesterday said the ban on political gatherings are necessary to maintain national security even though they are draining the time and resources of the police force.

These ceramah have wasted police time and human resources which could be channeled into other security concerns, such as those in serious and commercial crimes, ministry parliamentary secretary Abu Zahar Isnin told Parliament yesterday.

However, he added, the police will continue to take preventative measures allowed by the law to contain any political activities which could threaten national security.

By banning public gatherings and ceramah , the government has closed one of the very few channels available to the opposition and to dissidents in the country to articulate their grievances.

The Human Rights Commission, or Suhakam, last year recommended to Parliament that permits for ceramah should be approved in principle and that the police identify public areas where citizens can peacefully assemble.

But there has been no response from the government relating to these recommendations.