Unlawful public assemblies, if left unchecked, could spiral into a ‘public order crisis’, according to Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.

“So before public assemblies that goes against leads to a public order crisis, we need to enforce whatever is contained in our laws, “ Khalid told Astro AWANI in an exclusive interview recently.

Khalid defended police actions in relation to recent Blackout505 rallies where organisers were hauled up for breaching the provision of failing to give sufficient notice under the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA).

“Police actions were not done with malice, there is no other intention other than maintaining peace and order.”

“Although there are parties who accuse us of a clampdown. That is not true. There is no clamp down on anything. There is no such thing. Just follow the law, that is all,” said Khalid.

Asked about arguments from certain parties, including opposition leaders and other civil society movements that the 10-day notification period was just a technical requirement, Khalid said that there are reasons behind the provision.

“There are reasons why the law has provided a 10 day period, read the law again. Why do we need 10 days? There are things such as notifying the owner of the grounds, we also need to make sure that the gathering is not too near with prohibited areas, and does not infringe upon the rights of others,” he explained.

“Don’t just think of the rights of one party, we need to look at the rights of others too,” he said.

Khalid said that the police have been allowing and facilitating public assemblies, as was provided under the PAA, but expressed frustration that there is a lack of respect for the law by certain parties.

“Haven’t we been allowing now? Didn’t we allow the rally in Kelana Jaya? In Batu Kawan (Penang)? But at the same time when we give that allowance, the other party must obey the law. Obey the law on notices and so on. Make sure the speeches being made do not break any other laws.”

“Yes, it is our responsibility under the PAA to facilitate assemblies, peaceful assemblies, without weapons. Of course we help. We give traffic assistance and we keep the peace, that’s our job,” he said. “But follow the laws,” repeated Khalid.

“We need time to be notified because we need to plan our logistics, our allocation of men. To make sure that there are no other groups that would hold counter-protests that are not in line with the first group.”

“Don’t just say we are all peaceful, we don’t need the police. If there is some group that wants to cause trouble, who do we look for? Who do we blame if the police are not there?”

Khalid previously said that tackling the issue of public assemblies was among his top three agenda as the new IGP. The other two was on tackling and preventing crime and integrity of the force.

“If we look at the objectives of the police under Section 3 of the Police Act 1967, it says that firstly, it’s our duty to maintain law and order, preserve peace and security. Thirdly we prevent and detect crime, apprehend and prosecute offenders and collect security intelligence,” he said.

“If we go by the order of our duties, we must make sure law is respected... so maintain peace, so all activities can run smoothly,” he said.

Pakatan Rakyat held several mammoth rallies, dubbed Blackout505, nationwide protesting alleged fraud and the results of the 13th General Election on May 5. Last week, PKR announced that there would be at least four more gatherings in Perlis, Sungai Petani, Kota Bharu and Batu Pahat, and Sabah and Sarawak.