Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) has called off this Sunday’s Marxism course, citing the police’s plan to ban the programme for public safety reasons.

The party is also considering legal action against inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar for allegedly asserting that the Marxism course was aimed at reviving communist ideology.

To clarify matters with the police, course coordinator and PSM central committee member S Arutchelvan met with Petaling Jaya OCDP asst comm Mohd Zani Che Din this morning.

“The police won’t allow us to hold the course (on Marxism) as they have received 107 police reports (against the course).

“On the day of the programme, the Gerakbudaya PJ premises will be cordoned off. The police will also organise roadblocks,” he added.

Arutchelvan was accompanied by secretary-general A Sivarajan, PSM central committee member V Selvam and Malaysians for Malaysia activist Janice Fredah Ti in the meeting held at the Petaling Jaya police headquarters.

According to the PSM leader, the police said the eight-hour programme violates Section 105 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which allows for an arrest to prevent “seizable offences”.

“We requested that the police issue a black-and-white notice (on this matter), but they have not done so.

“The OCPD suggested that we hold this course at university (premises) instead,” said Arutchelvan ( photo ), adding that thus far 78 people have registered for the course.

“The majority of our registrants are still adamant in proceeding with the programme, but their safety must be taken into consideration."

In a press statement later, PSM apologised to the registrants and said they will find another venue to organise the programme.

They were also disappointed with the police’s decision to ban programmes based on arbitrary reports.

Sivarajan earlier opined that by doing so, the police are setting an unhealthy precedent.

“We hope the police will adopt a more independent stance (on issues like these),” he said.

In the same press statement, PSM announced that they plan to take legal action against Khalid.

“The inspector-general of police made his assertions without conducting a thorough investigation on the contents of this Marxism course.

“This may have led to the 107 arbitrary police reports being lodged against the programme,” the statement added.

On March 2, inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar had warned that the police will take action against members of the public who attend PSM’s course on Marxism.

Meanwhile, Mohd Zani refused to comment on the issue when queried by the reporters.