Published: Tuesday July 17, 2012 MYT 5:58:00 PM

Hisham: Need to find balance between freedom and maintaining order

By JOSEPH SIPALAN

PUTRAJAYA: The preliminary findings of the independent panel on Bersih 3.0 prove that there is a need to find a balance between public freedom and maintaining public order, said Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein.

While maintaining that none - including the police - would be spared if found to have broken the law, he said the violence that had erupted only supported the Government's stance about the need to have mass gatherings in a controlled environment.

"We saw emotions going out of control, and this applies both to the authorities and those assembled.

"It is important for us to not allow a situation that we cannot control... there are the rights to assemble, to be heard, but this needs to be balanced with control of a situation. That is why we suggested it be held at a stadium," he said at a press conference after signing a memorandum of understanding on transnational crime between Malaysia and the United States.

Hishammuddin was commenting on news reports quoting panel chairman Tun Haniff Omar as saying that low-ranking policemen had acted unprofessionally in handling the Bersih 3.0 crowd.

Haniff said Kuala Lumpur police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Mohmad Salleh testified that he had seen, via monitors at the Bukit Aman control centre, that some officers had acted unprofessionally.

The panel also saw police giving "uncalled-for slaps" to protesters when viewing footage of the controversial rally last April 28.

Haniff was also reported to have said that the police had no standard operating procedures (SOP) in handling the media at the rally where nearly a dozen pressmen on duty were assaulted and detained.

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