SHAH ALAM, Feb 2 ― Bersih 2.0 said today that it was unreasonable of the home minister to ban its T-shirts promoting the polls reform group’s Bersih 4 rally on grounds of national security.
In Bersih 2.0's lawsuit against the home minister, the group’s lead counsel Edmund Bon said logic would dictate that such a ban was unreasonable.
“There is no evidence that a T-shirt can lead to prejudice to national security and public order. I think that is logical, no reasonable person can say a T-shirt can lead to prejudice to national security and public order,” he said at the High Court here.
Bon pointed out that Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had, in a court document, merely defended his ban by saying that the Bersih 4 rally was not approved by the authorities, which the lawyer said was a separate matter.
“In the evidence of the minister, the minister relied on matters after the order was made. The order was made on August 27, 2015; the rally happened on August 29, 2015 but the minister referred to matters in the rally purportedly to say that is why T-shirts should have been banned,” he added.
Bon said Bersih 2.0 as the rally organisers had complied with the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 by notifying the police, noting that this law does not require obtaining police permission for a rally.
“We have produced evidence on before and during and after the rally that there was a peaceful assembly and it followed the Peaceful Assembly Act,” he said, further arguing that there were no police reports or public complaints to back up the minister's views.
Bon explained that Bersih 2.0 had filed for the legal challenge against Zahid's ban because the public are at risk, noting that Malaysians were previously arrested for wearing yellow T-shirts.
Highlighting that no questions were involved, Bon later questioned how the yellow shirts bearing the words “Bersih 4” could be prejudicial to public order.
Citing two other cases that have gone up to the Federal Court, Bon said the court has to objectively evaluate the government's ban based on the facts and evidence available, despite the home minister's discretionary powers under the Printing Presses and Publication Act to issue such orders.
Shah Alam High Court judge Datuk Mohd Yazid Mustafa has fixed February 19 for decision on the judicial review of Zahid's prohibition order.
The legal challenge was mounted by Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah, treasurer Masjaliza Hamzah and national representative Fadiah Nadwa Fikri against the home minister and the Malaysian government.
When met outside the courtroom later, Chin told reporters that the lawsuit was both to prevent further trouble to those arrested or quizzed over the yellow Bersih 4 shirts and to show the “ridiculous” nature of the ban.
“Nobody answered us about our (calls for) reforms, but authorities only picked on very inconspicuous issues like T-shirts to actually get back at participants. That's not the way to govern this country,” she said.
Last August 27, the government gazetted the Home Ministry's order issued under the PPPA, which bans any item of clothing in its signature yellow bearing the “Bersih 4” name and any other printed material and pamphlet on the rally.
The nationwide ban was against the “printing, importation, production, reproduction, publishing, sale, issue, circulation, distribution or possession” of the yellow Bersih 4 T-shirts and the related printing materials due to their likely harm to public order, security, national interest and likely breach of laws.
The ban took effect on August 28, just before the two-day Bersih 4 rally from August 29 to August 30 that demanded for institutional reforms and for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s resignation.
