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Support letter from police a must for German festival in Klang to be approved: MPK president

SHAH ALAM: The Klang Municipal Council (MPK) will only issue a permit to the organiser of Centro Mall's German Food and Beverage Festival if it obtains approval from the police.

MPK president Datuk Mohamad Yasid Bidin said it will only issue a permit to event organisers to carry out activities and programmes provided if they have a support letter from the police.

He said the local authorities have the absolute power to issue a license or permit and MPK would need to refer and seek the views of the police on the event as it involves the safety of the general public.

"It has been a common practice for a long time where before a license or permit is issued, MPK would get the opinion of the police. If an organiser applies to hold an event and its application comes with police's support letter, we will issue the permit. But without it, we will not allow.

"We do not have the ability to guarantee safety (of the public) if the event goes on. The police know more about this because that is their jurisdiction. If the police say it would be safe to go ahead, we will continue. If they say no, we have to abide by it," said Yasid.

Meanwhile, the organiser of the German Food and Beverage Festival is leaving it to MPK to decide if the two-day event scheduled for Oct 12 should get the green-light to proceed.

This came following the latest letter from the Klang Utara district police headquarters which said it would not give its support for the festival.

Selangor DAP vice-chairman Datuk Teng Chang Khim said in the letter dated Oct 2 sent to MPK, the police had stated that no support letter will be issued to the applicant or the organiser to hold the event based on three reasons.

"The three are security threats (militants), the sensitivity of the communities, and the objections from the society as well as non-governmental organisations. I regret with the stance of the police. This letter was issued by the Klang Utara district police chief (Assistant Commissioner Mazelan Paijan) with the reasons that are baseless, unacceptable and discriminatory (to the non-Muslims).

"So now, we will leave it to MPK to decide," said Teng in a special press conference held at his office at the Selangor state secretariat building on Friday.

Teng had said that there are no legal provisions that state that a support letter from the police was a condition that must be fulfilled. However, there is an administrative standard operating procedure where MPK would still need to get the consent and views from the police.

"This is because if the police do not give its support, we cannot possibly guarantee the safety of the people as there is no ability to do so. The power comes under the police. The responsibility is the police's too.

"If the police refuse to shoulder the responsibility, it is difficult for MPK to guarantee safety as this would be provided by the police. From this point of view, I understand the stance of MPK and its president if they do not allow the event to go on.

He said he understood their position and should any untoward incident take place, the onus will be on MPK.

Teng added that it would be hard for the organiser to provide security if the police does not give its support for the event.

Translated from Berita Harian

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