Datuk Dev Kumar
KUCHING: The Malaysian Election Offences Act 1954 will supersede the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 during the election campaigning period.
Sarawak Criminal Investigation Department (CID) chief Dato Dev Kumar said the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 cannot be applied once the names of the candidates are announced by the Returning Officer on nomination day.
“This is why the police permit to hold public talks (ceramah) are compulsory,” said Dev to a press conference at the Sarawak Police Contingent Headquarters today.
Some people, he added, have also questioned the need of the permit despite it (permit) not being a new requirement during the election period and is clearly stated under the Malaysian Election Offences Act 1954.
He said the permit is used by the police to ensure that no public talks will clash dates at the same or nearby locations among the political parties, which could cause massive traffic jams and disrupt peace.
“With the permit, we (police) can advise these political parties to either hold their talks earlier or on a later date,” said Dev, adding that the police will not “reject” the applications of permit unnecessarily.
The police have so far received and approved a total of 16 applications from the various political parties to hold their talks (ceramah) in various parts of the state.
Also present at the press conference were Sarawak Commissioner of Police Dato Sri Amer Awal and Sarawak Police Contingent Management Department head SAC Datuk Zamani Tan Sri Hamdan.