KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia will amend a new law banning street demonstrations, a report said, amid further protests on Saturday by critics who say the bill clamps down on their right to peaceful assembly.
Prime Minister Najib Razak has announced a slew of reforms aimed at expanding civil liberties to shore up support ahead of snap elections widely expected to be called next year.
But one of his initiatives, the Peaceful Assembly Bill, has come under intense fire for what critics say restricts the right to peaceful protest rather than safeguards it.
The Star daily quoted de facto law minister Nazri Aziz Saturday as saying the Cabinet had agreed to amend several sections of the bill despite Najib defending the law after tabling it in parliament this week. No details on the changes were immediately available.
The New Straits Times daily reported, quoting an unnamed government source, that the bill would still ban street demonstrations but would require rally organisers to give authorities only 10 days notice instead of 30 days.
But activists and opposition politicians said the law should be withdrawn immediately before parliament votes on it. Currently gatherings of three or more people need a police permit.
In the latest protest Saturday, some 200 people wearing yellow T-shirts gathered at the iconic Twin Towers in Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur, carrying yellow balloons that read "Say no to PAB 2011" and chanting "Free the people."
One of the organisers, Maria Chin Abdullah, said the bill is unconstitutional as it restricts the right to peaceful assembly. She said amending it would be insufficient. "It's like cleaning poison out of food. You can't," the prominent women's rights activist told AFP.
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