Police action against anti-Lynas leaders, is it DETERENCE? Rights must be defended and promoted.

Those who exercised the right to peaceful assembly on Lynas summoned by police? Is this to DETER people exercising their right to peaceful assembly...OR is it because they are against the Prime Minister's, Pakatan Harapan and Government stand on the Lynas issue?

And we are told - YES, they gave the police 10 days notice...and the police said action is taken because they did not get the PERMISSION of the Local Council, responsible for the public space where they exercised their right to peaceful assembly

...but failed to obtain permission from the Kuantan Municipal Council (MPK) for use of the venue in accordance to the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.

The police should have first found out whether the MPK(made up of politically appointed Councillors not chosen and democratically elected by the people) OBJECTED or not...

Further, the organisers did allegedly ask MPK for the permission but MPK just did not respond ...YES or NO > So, who is to blame? Was the MPK Enforcement Officers there to stop the event - no, it seems...

However, Lee claimed the council had ignored the organisers' request to use the venue."MPK did not give any written feedback to the application to use the area. As it is a public place, taxpayers and residents have a right to use the venue."MPK should provide cooperation and not make things difficult," he said

Did the police sent a reminder saying that MPK had not yet given its consent - please get it...and, if that MPK permission was so important, why did the police allow the protest to go on and is now targeting the leaders??? 

MPK was asked, and they were silent - would that not imply consent? 

I believe that during the tabling of the amendment to the Peaceful Assembly Act amendments, someone said that there were about 2,000 peaceful assemblies - but I did not hear of any summons or actions against them...Did they comply with all the requirements of the law - that bad law? Or is the police response selective? In some cases, they act...in others  they do not...

The Lynas issue affects the people of Kuantan ...and soon some other District/Town/State - and, of course, people have a right to express how they feel about the issue...and lobby others to come out and show that they support...

Was the MP of Kuantan there? She, after all is the peoples' representative of Kuantan - did she have a referendum with her constituents to find whether they want Lynas to remain or shut down? Whether Lynas waste should remain in Malaysia or be send away from Malaysia? Or is the peoples' representative now the government's representative? 

How many town hall discussions did your MP have about Lynas? Have your elected reps and that 'politically appointed' Local Councils been organising forums to give people all the arguements - from those who are anti-Lynas, those for Lynas, the experts...and then get the decision of the people as to the stance they, the 'elected reps' should take on the Lynas issue? 

Or are the elected reps now simply saying 'LISTEN...LISTEN...this is the government position, you just support - do not oppose..' 

Are we a democracy or a dictatorship under our elected MP and government? Democracy is not simply being able to choose and vote once every 5 years...

PUBLIC SPACES - there should be no requirement for people to get PERMISSION from Local Government or Local Councils, or State/Federal government when they are exercising their right to peaceful assembly in public places..  spaces....?

Abolish the draconian Peaceful Assembly Act which prevent free exercise of our Human Rights - Police should not have the power to permit or not the exercise of right to peaceful assembly - or to set conditions and/or restrictions.

Abolish requirement of notice periods - the Bill to amend the Peaceful Assembly act was passed in a rush - no time for even the people to organsize a peaceful assembly to protest(or support) that proposed amendment...

See earlier posts:-

Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 - PH amendments FAIL to restore right to freedom of assembly?

UMNO's Shahidan Kassim takes a Human Rights position compared to DAP, PKR,..PH on Right to Assemble Peacefully

Court of Appeal says '10 day pre-peaceful assembly notice' is unconstitutional ...a good courageous decision

 

Cops summon five, including Harapan reps, over anti-Lynas rally

Lu Wei Hoong & Ng Xiang Yi  |  Published: 21 Aug 2019, 5:50 pm  |  Modified: 21 Aug 2019, 6:12 pm

    Police have summoned five people over the anti-Lynas rally in Kuantan last Sunday.

Among those summoned are activists from Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL), which organised the rally, as well as two assemblypersons.

This was confirmed by SMSL organiser Tan Bun Teet and PKR's Semambu assemblyperson Lee Chean Chung.

Apart from the two, others summoned are SMSL legal adviser Hon Kai Ping, SMSL secretary Chu Seng Poong and PKR's Teruntum assemblyperson Sim Chon Siang.

Lee said Pahang police had wanted to question him today, but he is in Kuala Lumpur and will only provide his statement tomorrow.

"I am of the opinion that the freedom of assembly is a human right guaranteed by the Federal Constitution," he told Malaysiakini.

After the protest at Taman Gelora last Sunday, Kuantan district police chief Mohamad Noor Yusof Ali had said police will investigate the organiser as it had submitted a 10-day notice, but failed to obtain permission from the Kuantan Municipal Council (MPK) for use of the venue in accordance to the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012.

However, Lee claimed the council had ignored the organisers' request to use the venue.

"MPK did not give any written feedback to the application to use the area. As it is a public place, taxpayers and residents have a right to use the venue.

"MPK should provide cooperation and not make things difficult," he said, adding that police should not take issue with the peaceful protest based on technical reasons.

Tan said the five will give their statement to the police at Lee's service centre in Kuantan.

"We have not decided on a time yet. We'll need to see when Chean Chung returns to Kuantan," he said.

He also expressed regret at MPK not responding to their request to use Taman Gelora as a venue for their protest.

Malaysiakini has contacted Mohamad Noor for further comment.

Some 500 people had turned up at the rally last Sunday to protest Putrajaya's decision to extend Lynas' operating licence for its rare earth processing plant in Gebeng, Kuantan, for six months.

The government on Aug 15 announced the extension to Lynas' licence, but set a condition for it to come up with a construction and financing plan for a permanent deposit facility (PDF) to store its radioactive waste.

"The construction of the PDF must be expedited to minimise the risk from the water leach purification (WLP) stockpile that is now at more than 580,000 tonnes at the temporary residue storage facility, which is exposed to major floods," said the Atomic Energy Licensing Board (AELB).

AELB also required Lynas to shift its "cracking and leaching" phase of operations, which produces the radioactive waste, to overseas within four years.

It also asked Lynas to terminate its efforts to commercialise the waste by diluting them and turning them into fertiliser, and instructed for funds for this research to be channelled to the government as collateral.

The more stringent condition has not soothed anger as Harapan leaders had in the past promised to shut down the Lynas plant.- Malaysiakini, 21/8/2019