As police summon Bersih 4 organisers, one Umno minister sees action as unnecessary
(MMO) – The former de facto law minister also pointed out that the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 made it lawful for such assemblies to take provided it was done in a peaceful and nonviolent manner.
Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz may be a lone voice in the Cabinet today.
While the police have summoned the organisers of last weekend’s massive Bersih 4 demonstration of civil disobedience to Bukit Aman for questioning, the tourism minister sees their actions as unnecessary.
The former de facto law minister also pointed out that the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 made it lawful for such assemblies to take provided it was done in a peaceful and nonviolent manner.
“It was seen to be peaceful, and now it has ended. We already have the law which governs peaceful demonstrations, and this was accepted and passed by Parliament,” he told Malay Mail Online in an interview yesterday evening.
“If they want to express their opinions in a peaceful manner, so be it. There are laws that deal with how to go about it.
“I am one of the proponents of free speech in this country, provided you keep to the right side of the law,” Nazri added.
The Umno lawmaker said that the peaceful Bersih rally showed that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government respected the concept of democracy and even allowed dissent.
Nazri also denied claims that the rally was attended by predominantly non-Malays, saying that he believes that race was not an issue in the weekend rally.
“There is nothing racial about the whole thing, it’s just issues, just issues that people have opinions about.
“In fact I think by wearing yellow it shows the 80,000 plus people who took part respect royalty as yellow is the symbol of royalty,” Nazri said with a smirk.
