The police will not allow anyone to exploit "sensitive issues" to sow seeds of hatred against the government and this was the reason behind the controversial barring of a Chinese education meeting recently.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Syed Abdul Rahman Syed Abdul Kadir who said this today, also maintained that a police permit is required for any public gathering.

He said a meeting which touches on 'sensitive' issues must be taped-recorded to enable the police to take appropriate actions under the law against those found making seditious statements.

"This is understood by the DAP," Syed Abdul Rahman said, adding that if opposition members of parliament are unhappy, they can raise the matter in parliament.

The city police chief was speaking to reporters after meeting three DAP MPs Tan Kok Wai (Cheras), Fong Kui Lun (Bukit Bintang) and Teresa Kok (Seputeh) at the Kuala Lumpur police headquarters.

The trio held a meeting with the police to discuss various issues concerning their constituencies, one of which was last Wednesday's incident in which police stopped Chinese education lobbyists from entering the Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall for a meeting.

Police barred the meeting called by the influential United Chinese Schools Committees' Association, also known as Dong Zong, on the grounds that the organisers did not have a permit.

About 300 people turned up for the meeting which was to discuss the status of two schools in Subang Jaya the new vision school and the construction of a new building for the Chee Wen Chinese school.

The police cited section 27A of the Police Act which allows them to disperse any crowd if they have no permit to gather in a public place.

Scare tactics unwarranted

In a private interview between the DAP MPs and malaysiakini later, Kok maintained that the police should not have stopped the meeting as it was opened for invited guests only.

She added that even political parties could organise meetings and ceramah (political talk) at its own premises for its members without the need to apply for a permit.

Meanwhile, Tan said:"There's no need to send in the light strike force (anti-riot police) to seal off the area. These people are not criminals. These people are senior educationists, headmasters and Chinese associations leaders."

"They are not the 10 most wanted criminals by the police. Why use such tactics to scare them off?," he asked.

He said the police would usually deploy Special Branch and plain-clothes officers to monitor such meetings but instead chose to stop the meeting from being held last week.

Stop press

The police also made a surprise move when a senior police officer interrupted a separate press conference held by the DAP MPs at the police headquarters to tell the malaysiakini reporter not to report on the earlier press conference held by Syed Abdul Rahman.

The police officer, who identified himself only as Low from the public relations department, said action would be taken against malaysiakini for any reports of the press conference as it was not a "registered press" on his list of invited media.

The reporter had earlier registered himself at the police guardpost and introduced himself to the police chief before attending both press conferences.

Later, Cheras MP Tan said Syed Abdul Rahman, who has a degree in mass communications, had earlier spoken of the need to "improve the public relations skills" of his officers by organising PR courses for them.