Source: Malay Mail / Yusof Mat Isa

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA — Authorities, especially the police, are legally and morally obligated to facilitate peaceful assemblies and protect freedom of expression, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (SUHAKAM) said on Friday (30 July).

The national human rights body’s statement came after three young activists were called in by the police for questioning over an anti-government protest that took place near Dataran Merdeka on Saturday morning.

Tharma Pillai, Afiq Adib, and Muhammad Alshatri of Sekretariat Solidariti Rakyat (SSR), the group organising the rally, are being investigated under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code for allegedly making statements that could lead to public mischief, and Section 233(1) of the Communications and Multimedia Act for allegedly sharing offensive content.

“SUHAKAM wishes to remind the Government of its commitments following the 3rd Universal Periodic Review (UPR) cycle in 2018, whereby the Government accepted all recommendations to revise the Peaceful Assembly Act in order to eliminate discrimination and hindrance to the peaceful assembly,” said the commission.

The authorities, said SUHAKAM, should provide “adequate space at an appropriate location” for the assembly to take place.

This is to ensure that physical distancing and health screening of the participants can be conducted safely, it said.

Organisers and all individuals participating in the peaceful assembly, SUHAKAM added, should observe and strictly comply with the standard operating procedures (SOP) at all times.

“Those with COVID-19 symptoms or comorbidities should restrain themselves from participating in the peaceful assembly,” it said.

SUHAKAM expressed its hope that all parties, including the police and the organisers, are “able to collaborate in order to achieve a win-win solution, in line with respecting the rights for peaceful assembly whilst managing current public health SoPs and (the) COVID-19 pandemic”.

SUHAKAM’s remarks also followed the police’s detention of 20-year-old activist Sarah Irdina Mohammad Ariff at the Jinjang police station on Thursday.

Prior to that, the co-founder of youth-led collective MISI: Solidariti was earlier called for questioning at the Dang Wangi police headquarters, along with the three SSR activists.

She was released from the detention centre in Jinjang at 1am on Friday, lawyer Goh Cia Yee tweeted.

The investigations against Sarah under Section 4 of the Sedition Act, and Section 233(1) of the Communications and Multimedia Act pertained to a Twitter post she made, in which she had purportedly encouraged the public to participate in Saturday’s protest, The Vibes reported Rajsurian Pillai, one of her lawyers as saying.

SSR earlier said that the police had confiscated Sarah’s phone and had issued a search warrant to raid her home.

The protest on Saturday was part of the #Lawan campaign against the government’s purported failure in handling the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing State of Emergency that is due to be lifted on 1 August.

Previously, several individuals representing SSR staged a flashmob of around 20 people at Dataran Merdeka.

14 black flags and a simulation of five “dead bodies” wrapped in white shrouds were displayed during the small protest to depict the increasing death toll as a result of COVID-19, including of suicides believed to be driven by dismal economic conditions and tight restrictions during the lockdown.

‘Lawan’ is the Malay word for ‘fight’ or ‘resist’.

Among the demands made in the campaign include Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s resignation and for Parliament sittings to continue, particularly after months of suspension since the start of the Emergency period in January.

“The intimidation will never stop, they will continue to intimidate us to silence our voices. BUT we will not be silenced,” said MISI: Solidariti in an Instagram post on 28 July.

“We will continue to #Lawan today, tomorrow and every day until we are heard.

“#LawanDanKeluar on 31st July,” said MISI: Solidariti.

“For Our Doctors. For Our Activists. For The Rakyat,” the group said, referencing the predicament of contract doctors who are forced to grapple with uncertainty in their career path, on top of the exhaustion they experience as a result of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

Contract doctors across Malaysia’s public hospitals went on strike on Monday after Muhyiddin’s “half-baked” proposal to lengthen their contracts has failed to placate their demands regarding their security of tenure.

Among the key suggestions earlier put forth by Muhyiddin and the Cabinet regarding the security of tenure of contract doctors include offering a two-year contract extension for medical officers, pharmacists, and dental officers who have completed their compulsory service.

For medical officers and dental officers who have been selected to do the relevant Masters’ programme, the government may grant a four-year contract extension, according to the government’s plans.

In a statement on 24 July, the Hartal Doktor Kontrak movement said that simply adding more years to such contracts is not a means of solving the problem but merely “a sugarcoating statement to shut us up”.

“We know well how the system works, we are not buying it. Nobody wise enough will accept it. Stop giving us a half-baked solution given by people who are not even in this field, or don’t even know how the system works, or maybe don’t even bother to think thoroughly about it because the problem is not theirs,” they added.

In an Instagram post on the eve of the #Lawan protest, MISI: Solidariti posted detailed guidelines for the protest, which include COVID-19 safety protocols such as double masking, umbrellas for social distancing, gloves for infection control, and the use of hand sanitisers.

Participants are discouraged from carrying “incriminating items” such as weapons.

The guidelines also outlined what protestors can do if they are hit by pepper spray or tear gas at the protest, and what steps to take if they are called in for questioning or are arrested by the police for their involvement in the rally.

Individuals exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms, who are immunocompromised, and who live with other individuals from high-risk groups such as children and senior citizens are not encouraged to attend the assembly at Dataran Merdeka.

“If you are unable to attend the physical protest, you can also support the protest via social media by posting, sharing, tweeting with the #Lawan hashtag,” said MISI: Solidariti.

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