Event Summary
On 8 August 2025, former Muda secretary-general and current Mandiri executive director Amir Hariri Abd Hadi was acquitted of a charge under Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 (PAA) for allegedly failing to notify authorities before organising the “#ManaKapalLCS” rally on 14 August 2022. Magistrate Farah Nabihah Muhamad Dan granted the acquittal after the prosecution confirmed it had no intention to re-charge Amir. The court also ordered the return of his bail in full.
Amir had been charged on 26 August 2022, a week after the rally outside Sogo shopping complex in Kuala Lumpur, which called for government accountability in the littoral combat ship (LCS) procurement scandal. He pleaded not guilty and was released on RM4,000 bail.
The acquittal followed the Federal Court’s July 2025 decision declaring Section 9(5) unconstitutional for criminalising peaceful assembly organisers who fail to give five days’ notice to the police. The Court found the provision inconsistent with the constitutional right to peaceful assembly under Article 10(2)(b) of the Federal Constitution (FC) read together with Article 8(1) of the FC. In striking down Section 9(5) as unconstitutional, the Federal Court found the provision to be disproportionate, discriminatory, and tantamount to a prohibition rather than a restriction. It remitted Amir’s case to the High Court for expeditious disposal in line with its judgment, paving the way for the charge to be dropped.
Amir’s acquittal follows a mixed prosecution pattern under Section 9(5) of the PAA, where charges for failing to give notice have often been withdrawn by the government but applied inconsistently across cases. In 2022, Parti Amanah Negara Youth chief Mohd Hasbie Muda, Batu PKR Youth chief Muhammad Sabda Suluh Lestari Yahya, and International Islamic University Malaysia Student Union president Muhammad Aliff Naif Mohd Fizam were charged over the Turun Malaysia rally but had their charges dropped in April 2023, less than a year after filing. In January 2025, student activist Fadhil Kasim was charged for organising the Gempur Rasuah Sabah protest, but the charge was withdrawn within three days amid the government’s stated commitment to amend Section 11 of the PAA. By contrast, Amir’s charge, filed in August 2022, was retained despite his January 2024 representation to withdraw it, suggesting selective prosecution. His case proceeded for nearly three years until the Federal Court’s July 2025 ruling striking down Section 9(5) as unconstitutional, which paved the way for his acquittal. This uneven trajectory highlights how decisions to proceed or withdraw Section 9(5) charges have been shaped less by consistent legal principles (e.g., proportionality, equality before the law) than by shifting political contexts — particularly when assemblies challenge the government on politically sensitive issues such as corruption scandals or the rising cost of living — and by prosecutorial discretion.