#Nothing2Hide: Police cancels PM's event to 'maintain national harmony'

The event this morning where both Datuk Seri Najib Razak and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad were supposed to attend has been cancelled in the name of maintaining public order and national harmony.

The programme 'Dialog PM Bersama NGO' (PM’s dialogue with NGOs) was scheduled to take place at 9am at the Dewan Tun Hussein Onn in Putra World Trade Centre.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar confirmed the cancellation via his Twitter.

Dialog 1MDB bersama NGO2. Demi ketenteraman awam dan keharmonian masy, @PDRMsia mengarahkan Dialog diatas, di PWTC, Kl pagi ini dibatalkan.
— Khalid Abu Bakar (@KBAB51) June 5, 2015

About 1,500 members of various NGOs were already present at the premises when the cancellation announcement was made at 8.55am.

Around 9.30am, an event spokesman announced that the event was actually not opened to the media and Pressmen were directed to leave the hall after snapping or recording their shots of the prime minister.

Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir, who had arrived at the hall, created a bit of a stir when he began to address the crowd. His speech, however, was cut short by the police.

Astro AWANI reporter Syafique Shuib recorded the moments via his Twitter.

#Nothing2Hide - Tun Mahathir tiba di dalam dewan @501Awani pic.twitter.com/NHVHULvQwd
— syaf (@syafique) June 5, 2015

#Nothing2Hide Program ditunda; tetapi wakil NGO boleh berbincang dengan Tun M. @501Awani pic.twitter.com/Wfi2wbxgzn
— syaf (@syafique) June 5, 2015

Pihak polis arah Tun M berhenti berucap @501Awani #Nothing2Hide pic.twitter.com/6WFZQNTrKC
— syaf (@syafique) June 5, 2015

Keadaan di dalam dewan setelah Tun M diarah berhenti berucap #Nothing2Hide @501Awani pic.twitter.com/NRWgf2hyPM
— syaf (@syafique) June 5, 2015

Rakan media berkata Tun M akan membuat sidang media, namun tidak semua wartawan dpt ke pentas utama @501Awani pic.twitter.com/lEYfcVvWFL
— syaf (@syafique) June 5, 2015

Tun M keluar dari dewan #Nothing2Hide @501Awani pic.twitter.com/cHBaE3Hxm7
— syaf (@syafique) June 5, 2015

Event organiser, Malaysian Volunteer Lawyers Association (SukaGuam) had earlier tried to negotiate with the police to let the event continue.

#Nothing2Hide - Pengumuman terkini: Pihak urus setia masih berunding dgn IGP. @501Awani VIDEO: pic.twitter.com/9abnjacro0
— syaf (@syafique) June 5, 2015

But when it was clear that the event would be put on hold, SukaGuam chairman Datuk Khairul Anwar Rahmat told a media conference that the organisers would strive to get a new date with Najib to hold the dialogue.

Sidang media bersama pihak penganjur, akan dapatkan tarikh baru untuk anjurkan dialog bersama PM @501Awani pic.twitter.com/L7mOQbtuip
— syaf (@syafique) June 5, 2015

He added that the hall could only cater to 1,500 people but about 2,500 people had turned up for the event.

The programme was supposed to allow Najib a chance to address the public’s queries on the various negative reports on him recently.

The programme had been actively promoted by SukaGuam via the hashtag #Nothing2Hide in the last couple of days.

"The NGOs should be given a chance to pose their questions to Najib, seeing that they have a lot of important issues. This is to ensure that politicians don’t dominate the discussions on national issues," Khairul Anwar had said in a statement last Monday.

READ: #Nothing2Hide: Tun M expected to attend PM's dialogue with NGOs