IPOH, Sept 11 — Any party planning to hold a rally in Kuala Lumpur on September 16 must obey the laws, including submitting an application for a permit beforehand, said Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay.

He said according to Section 9 (1) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012, parties wanting to hold rallies need to apply for permits five days before such a gathering is held.

“Secondly, applicants also need to seek the approval of owners of premises. In this context, I understand that a gathering will be held in the Sogo Shopping Complex area, so they will need to get permission from DBKL (Kuala Lumpur City Hall) and also Sogo,” he said at a press conference, after attending the 44th anniversary of the Royal Malaysia Police Airwing here today.

“An application must be submitted five days before the date of the rally, so accordingly, today is the last day (to submit an application). Thirdly, there must be no objections from the community in the area, so perhaps stall owners or Sogo will need to lodge their objections within 48 hours.

When asked about parties who have not made applications by today but go ahead with holding a rally, Ayob Khan said, “We will take action according to the existing laws.

Yesterday, the media reported that Perikatan Nasional (PN) Youth would hold a rally in front of Sogo on Saturday (September 16), as part of its “Save Malaysia” movement.

PN Youth chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari, who is also the Pasir Mas Member of Parliament, said that the rally is to protest against the court ruling that Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi be granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal (DNAA) on 47 graft charges, involving Yayasan Akalbudi funds.

Meanwhile, Ayob Khan said that there were 140 police reports lodged during the Pulai parliamentary and Simpang Jeram state by-elections, with four investigation papers opened under Section 427 and Section 505 (b) of the Penal Code and Section 8 (1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

“Two of the four investigation papers were opened by the Bukit Aman Classified Crime Investigation Unit (USJT), under Section 4 (1) of the Sedition Act and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act,” he added. — Bernama