Police to facilitate Bersih 5 if organisers abide PAA: IGP

KUALA LUMPUR: Police may facilitate the Bersih 5 rally if the organiser abides by conditions stipulated in the Peaceful Assembly Act (PAA 2012).
Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said the law has provisions for the conduct of peaceful rallies and organisers of any assembly must abide by the rules and regulations.
"We will facilitate their requests if they (Bersih 2.0) follow the stipulations.
"If they follow the law, we will give them our support," he told reporters at the city police headquarters here yesterday after attending the city police Hari Raya Aidilfitri open house.
On another matter, Khalid has denied PKR vice-president Rafizi Ramli's claims that he (Khalid) practises double standards, saying he has no time to entertain such comments.
The accusation came after Khalid said no action will be taken against Umno Youth vice-chief Khairul Azwan Harun for lodging a police report "based on assumptions".
"Sure, I'm always the one 'practising' double standards and he's always the fair one.
"We (police) have enough work to do so I'm just going to leave this issue," he added.
It was reported that Rafizi was unhappy that the investigations had been stopped.
He accused Khalid of double standards, pointing to cases when action was taken against him over issues involving Tabung Haji and the Armed Forces fund.
On July 26, Khairul Azwan lodged a police report against three prominent Malaysians alleging they were involved in a conspiracy to topple Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak and the Government.
He had named former attorney-general Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, former Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Dr Zeti Akhtar Aziz and former Malaysian Anti-Corruption
Commission chief Tan Sri Abu Kassim Mohamed in his police report.
Earlier, electoral watchdog Bersih 2.0 announced that it would hold a fifth rally, focusing on action against 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Its chairman, Mari Chin Abdullah, said the date and venue for the rally has yet to be fixed.
Maria said the rally was mainly to pressure for greater accountability and action be taken against "Malaysian Official 1" following the lawsuit filed by US Department of Justice (DoJ) involving 1MDB two weeks ago.
She believed protesting was no longer an option, but a necessity, as the rakyat must make a strong stand against what she deemed as a "grand corruption and betrayal of trust".