Amanah Youth says members can attend rally tomorrow

Summary

• Amanah Youth encourages party members to participate in tomorrow's anti-corruption rally in Kuala Lumpur.

• Amanah Youth chief Mohd Hasbie Muda said his party supports the rally and hopes the government will not block it.

• He also urged the government to amend the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.

Amanah Youth today said it encourages party members to participate in the anti-corruption rally to be held in Kuala Lumpur tomorrow.

Its youth wing chief, Mohd Hasbie Muda, said Amanah fully supports the rally and hopes the government does not take regressive action by blocking it.

"We encourage our members (to join the rally). In the spirit of fighting corruption, we want Amanah Youth to come together.

"And our stance on the issue of tomorrow's (anti-corruption) rally is that we support the rally being held.

"So, we hope the government does not take steps that are backward, whether by blocking, not allowing and so on.

“Unless they (rally participants and organisers) do something provocative, I think there is no need to take action other than that," he said at a press conference at the Amanah Youth National Convention in Klang, Selangor.

Uncooperative authorities

However, Hasbie added that party leaders will be unable to attend the rally as it clashes with the ongoing convention.

The Anwar Ibrahim-led federal administration has come under heavy criticism for attempting to prevent the rally from happening tomorrow.

This is despite many of the current government's leaders having led and participated in street demonstrations when Pakatan Harapan was the opposition.

The rally will start outside the Sogo shopping mall in Kuala Lumpur before proceeding to Dataran Merdeka.

The police earlier today said the rally organiser has yet to resubmit notice of the event to prove that they have Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s permission.

‘Amend Peaceful Assembly Act’

When speaking on the restrictions placed on the rally's organisers, Hasbie said it was time for the government to amend the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA).

"The issue that arose over the rally is that they did not get permission from the owner. That is why I mentioned earlier that we hope the PAA is amended because the spirit of the law is to make it easier for the people to gather.

“But when the (need for) notice is still maintained, they need to fill in more details including permission from the owner or the premises. That is something that is almost impossible to obtain.

“So, that is why we hope the government will immediately amend (the PAA) so there will be no need to obtain permission from the owner of the public place,” he said.

Hasbie also insisted that the location for the rally is that of a public place.

The rally is a follow-up to the student-led New Year's Eve rally in Sabah, which protested against state politicians implicated in an alleged graft scandal.

This came after a Malaysiakini exposé on Sabah assemblypersons allegedly discussing bribes to obtain mining prospecting licences, which also implicated Chief Minister Hajiji Noor.

Hajiji and others linked to the scandal have denied any wrongdoing, claiming it to be a conspiracy to destabilise the state government ahead of the state polls.

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