The Home Affairs ministry has granted 5,567 permits to both Barisan Nasional and the opposition to hold ceramah (political talks) since last year, the Parliament was told today.

The ministry's parliamentary secretary Abu Zahar Isnin said that at the same time, 394 applications have been rejected for security reasons as they did not fulfil certain conditions set by the police.

However, he did not specify what the conditions were.

Those who defied the orders to break up, said Abu Zahar, were dispersed peacefully and some were charged under section 27(a) of the 1967 Police Act.

"There is never a ceramah held by the opposition that does not end with violence," said Abu Zahar.

At this juncture, Tan Kok Wai (DAP-Cheras) objected and asked for clarification, saying that even family day events organised by DAP had been rejected by the police.

Tan explained that DAP ceramah were always peaceful and questioned why party dinners were not permitted by the police.

No answer

Abu Zahar did not reply to the question, instead said in jest, "The Cheras MP is angry. He is short, that's why he has to raise his voice for fear he cannot be heard."

Abu Zahar was earlier responding to a question by Tan who asked the ministry to state the number of applications for political talks which have been granted permits or rejected by the police for years 2000 and 2001.

Tan also wanted to know what were the measures taken on ceramahs which were not approved by the police.

Later at the parliament lobby, Abu Zahar told reporters that the ministry had rejected applications from both BN and the opposition.

"When we do so, we always have a good reason. These reasons range from anticipating that the ceramah will turn violent to requests from residents who do not want disturbances," he added.

Abu Zahar also said that applications from political parties to hold ceramah in their respective operation centres were also rejected due to fears that the crowd would swell and become uncontrollable.

The parliament secretary also said that ceramah were usually conducted during election time.

'Go elsewhere'

He added that laws in the country were enough to handle security problems and defended police action during crowd dispersal at demonstrations.

"Elections are a long way off so the police say there is no need to hold ceramah now," he said.

"The police have good reasons to reject ceramah . If you think the police are violent, go to a country that is not violent. The police here are already good or else all of you will be detained under the Internal Security Act," Abu Zahar told the opposition.