By CHESTER CHIN
Photos by CALYN ONG and CHAN KAI WAEY
The Dewan Rakyat passed the Peaceful Assembly Bill (PAB) 2011 last Tuesday after allowing six amendments. The new law which is drafted four months after the Bersih 2.0 rally seeks to regulate public protests in Malaysia.
While the Barisan Nasional government claims that the PAB allows citizens to organise and participate in assemblies peacefully, the opposition as well as various society leaders have strongly condemned the act, citing concerns that it will impede the right to protest instead of protecting it.
J-on went around the campus and find out what UTAR’s varsity community has to say about this new law:
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| Sathye, Foundation in Arts student |
“The PAB has good intentions behind its implementation. In a way, the act provides people with the proper and legal channel to stage protests and will help to safeguard the public’s security. As for the fine of RM10, 000, I believe that the amount would make people think twice before participating in any street protests."
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| Ong Sheau Wen, Department of Journalism lecturer |
“The way I see it, the PAB provides a proper framework for people to peacefully assemble. Regarding the act’s provisions, I think that for everything we do, there must be rules and regulations that need to be adhered to. Rather than having no laws about a proper assembly conduct, this is an improvement and shows the present day government's effort to give the Malaysian people what they want. But then again, the 13th General Election is coming, so this could be an attempt to win the rakyat's heart.”
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| Chang Yi Chang, Department of Public Relations lecturer |
“In a democracy, one cannot avoid public assembly or protest. The PAB can be regarded as an instrument of restriction to crackdown citizen’s protests. When this happens, it reduces the quality of the nation’s democracy. The government should instead be more liberal and hold more discussions with NGOs and pressure groups before implementing this rule.”
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| Parthivan, Foundation in Science student |
“I don’t think this new law should be implemented. As citizens of a democratic country, we should be allowed to express our views, and this includes expressing ourselves through assemblies. With this new act, I feel that the police have the absolute power instead of the people. This is definitely not a good thing.”
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| Valentina Tay Shiying, English Language Y3T2 student |
“I’m afraid that the police are being given too much power here. To me, the police force should only provide supervision to an assembly instead of dictating whether or not an assembly would be “peaceful”. On that note, I believe that every citizen in a democratic country must not be refrained from participating in an assembly to champion a cause that they believe in such as protecting their civil rights and maintaining peace.”
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| Riddick Lim, Foundation in Science student |
“Law or no law, people would still take to the streets if they want to voice out their dissatisfaction. I don’t think the PAB will be effective in curbing “un-peaceful” assembly.”
* Varsity’s Voice is a segment on J-on where we publish thoughts from UTAR Kampar campus community regarding issues that truly matter to young people. Be sure to equip yourself with knowledge on current affairs because you’ll never know when our journalists will probe you with hard-hitting questions the next time you’re in campus!
