30/11: Bar to decide if permit is needed

The Star

The Bar Council will decide Saturday if a police permit is needed for some events of the Festival of Rights, including its annual Human Rights Day march, that will be held on Dec 9.

Bar Council chairman S. Ambiga said: “We are re-looking the programme and there may be some changes.”

This year’s theme for the festival is As I Believe: Freedom of Expression Through Art, Music, Culture and Conscience.

Since it is a festival, it does not mean that a police permit is not needed, said Ambiga.

The Coalition for Free and Fair Elections (Bersih), which plans to gather outside Parliament House on Dec 11 to protest against the impending constitutional amendment that will raise the retirement age of Election Commission members from 65 to 66, said it did not discuss the issue of getting a police permit because it just wanted to hand over a protest note to the Parliament Speaker.

As for the toll hike protest to be organised by DAP, the party’s national deputy chairman Dr Tan Seng Giaw said they had not worked out the details.