Malaysia bans street demonstrations

Malaysia's Parliament, despite a walkout of by opposition party members and a protest rally outside by lawyers, passed a bill that bans street demonstrations. The National Front coalition government of Prime Minister Najib Razak claimed the Peaceful Assembly Act relaxes legal requirements for protest groups to have demonstrations that will be allowed in designated assembly areas such as athletics stadiums and public halls. Unsuitable locations for demonstrations are deemed to be anywhere close to schools, hospitals, places of worship, airports or gasoline stations. The act also bars people under 15 and foreigners from attending demonstrations. The act bars people under 21 from organizing rallies and protests. Demonstrators and organizers can be fined up to $6,200 for breaking the law. A previous requirement for organizers to give police at least 30 days notice of a demonstration has been shortened to 10 days. Once a demonstration is approved, anyone objecting to it would have 24 hours to lodge a protest with police. Previously there was a five-day period to formally object to the demonstration. Police also must move faster to investigate an objection and come to a conclusion about allowing a demonstration to continue. They must respond to the objection within five days, not 12 as before. However, police were given increased powers to restrict aspects of demonstrations, including time and place, in an effort to maintain public order. Government ministers claimed the act strikes a balance between the right to protest and public security. But opposition party members cried foul during the heated debate in the Dewan Rakyat, Malaysia's lower house of Parliament, and walked out before the vote, which went in the government's favor, a report by the national news agency Bernama said. During a street protest by around 500 lawyers before the vote, marchers shouted "freedom to assemble" and "freedom to the people." Police stopped them from entering the area immediately around Parliament, the report said. The government's move to get a greater handle on protests before they hit the streets comes after a large-scale anti-government demonstration in Kuala Lumpur in July. Estimates of the number of protesters ranged from 5,000-10,000. Although no deaths were reported, hundreds of people were injured as police used water cannon and fired tear gas into the crowds. Police also took more than 1,400 protesters into custody, including several opposition party members. Most protesters were released the next day police and the government came under much criticism for what demonstrators said was an unwarranted heavy-handedness. Protesters were demanding electoral reforms and the government stands down before the next scheduled general election in 2013. Part of the Najib government's lack of popularity comes from reforms that include cutting fuel subsidies. There also is concern about plans to do away with some affirmative-action programs -- in place since the early 1970s and designed to improve daily life for the country's indigenous Malay majority over people of Chinese and Indian extraction. Malays made up most of the country's poorest people. The rally organizers in July said Malaysia's electoral system is plagued with fraud, a BBC report said at the time. Longer campaign periods are needed with automatic voter registration and equality of access for opposition groups to the largely government-controlled mainstream media. The Peaceful Assembly Act is expected to get the nod through the upper Parliament where the National Front also has a majority of seats.