KUALA LUMPUR: Four people were arrested on Nomination Day for various offences, says Bukit Aman GE15 operations director Comm Datuk Seri Hazani Ghazali.
He said an individual was detained in Selangor while three others were arrested in Sarawak.
“We also opened eight investigation papers (IPs) for offences,” he said in a statement yesterday.
Comm Hazani, who is also Bukit Aman Internal Security and Public Order Department director, said police issued 289 permits for “ceramah” (political talks).
“Fifty-two permits were issued in Perak, Johor (47), Selangor (32), Kedah (29), Sabah (28), Sarawak (22), Penang (18), Negri Sembilan (15), Pahang and Melaka (14 each), Terengganu (seven), Kelantan (six), Perlis (three), and Kuala Lumpur (two).
“A total of 19 ceramah were held without permits, with 11 of them in Selangor, Perak (five), Pahang (one), and Terengganu (two),” he said.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani previously said that the police are paying close attention to 52 “electoral hotspots”, deploying 79,953 personnel as the campaign kicked off.
Police identified the hotspots after going through a list of 292 potential “flashpoint locations” around the country.
“Special Branch has studied the list of flashpoints for incidents that could disrupt public order before identifying 52 hotspots to focus on.
“It is not only caused by problems involving politics, but could also be disagreements between residents of a locality, such as jostling for parking spaces or even racial issues,” he said after visiting the nomination centre at the Bukit Bandaraya Community Centre here yesterday.
Acryl Sani said while some problems could be considered trivial, they could lead to bigger problems.