PETALING JAYA , Tues.-The Election Commission will stop a political rally if speeches are found to contravene the EC's code of ethics, even if the rally has a police permit.

EC chairman Tan Sri Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman said EC enforcement units would be on hand at all rallies to make sure that speakers did not commit slander or incite religious or racial feelings. The commission would not hesitate to break up the event if rules were broken, he said at a meeti-the-Press luncheon here today. Discussions on how this would be done have been held between EC secretary Datuk Wan Ahmad Wan Omar and the police of all States.

Under the EC's code of ethics, a candidate may not speak on any other person except his rival in the constituency. Rashid said to ensure free and fair elections, the EC would recommend that police only denied permits for public rallies on reasonable grounds. He said the commission was in discussions with the police on this matter and others related to open public rallies. He said the decision of the police had a direct bearing upon the commission, since the acceptance or denial of permits would reflect on the freedom and fairness of elections.

"Campaigning might be hot in one place and cool in onother, but that's no reason to ban public rallies all over the country," he said. Rashid said the EC's allowing of open public rallies did not unfairly shift th eburden onto th epolice. The issues, he said, was not about a shifting of burden but rather that of each body palying tha role assigned to it.

The EC's role was to conduct a free and fair election, while the police role was to see that teh election is done in the most peaceful manner. "Peace and security is their business. In our effort to mantain a fair and free election, the police will have to ensure taht freedom is not abused and that people are not going to be so free as to cause problems to security. "Like I said before, this law has to be read together with the police law," said Rashid. Though the matter of allowing open public rallies seemed like a controversial issues, Rashid said the EC would 'thrash it out with the authorities" to ensure that the freedom of the elections would not be sacrificed. Rashid however would not comment why certain parties were aware of the implications of the amendment, including the legislators themselves." "The implications are quite big. It means that, barring all circumstances, we must allow public rallies," he said.

In response to Pas president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang's call for him to stand his ground on the issue and not bow to pressure to revoke the announcement, Rashid said since the issue was law, there was no need to stand anyground. He added that the he was puzzled by Hadi's exhortation. "On the one hand, he has appealed to the Conference of Rules to get rid of me. On the other, he's telling me to stand my ground.