Newly-passed assembly law sparks tiny protest

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 29 — A small band of people gathered on the sidewalk leading to Parliament House tonight to protest the Barisan Nasional (BN) government's swift passing of the controversial peaceful assembly proposal into law.

The group, which called itself "Occupy Parlimen", was upset at what it considered a hastily-drafted law dealing with people's basic right to assemble had been successfully pushed through without much public consultation.

The Peaceful Assembly Bill, which bans street demonstrations, was passed just hours earlier on BN votes after the opposition Pakatan Rakyat bloc staged a walkout.

The group started with 13 people at 7.30pm, long after the lawmakers had left the building, and grew to number just 22 people within an hour.

They stood on the sidewalk with their hand-drawn cardboard placards that read "#Occupy Parlimen" and "Democracy is dead" for about 10 minutes before being chased away by Parliament security.

They reassembled some 50 metres down the road, on a grassy divider, and lit some candles while discussing their next course of action.

A young bespectacled man, who gave his name as Nicol Paul Miranda, said he was a sixth former at St John's Institution — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's alma mater — and that he was demonstrating to show he did not recognise the newly-passed law that restricted his constitutional right to assemble in peace.

He noted that under the new law he could not organise an assembly because he was still below 21 years of age.

"This is another act of shutting us up," he said, angry the government did not think he was mature enough to weigh his actions.

The vocal 18-year-old said he believed that people his generation will not put up with what he said was an unjust law.

He said they will find ways to make the government pay for undermining youths even if they were too young to qualify to vote.

He said polls were not the only way to show dissatisfaction with the government.

He added that the new law would not prevent dissenters from taking to the street, even with the hefty fine of up to RM20,000 for some offences.

"People will object to this and the government won't be able to do anything," he said.

"I'm confident my generation will continue to assemble freely despite the restrictions. We're a new breed," he said.

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