 The applicants had applied for and been granted a permit to speak in a public place under the terms of the Police Act, which grants the Royal Malaysian Police the power to issue such licences.The permit prohibited the applicants from speaking about particular issues, including the status of the Malay language as the national language, and policies related to education.These issues were considered "sensitive" — they had been entrenched in the Constitution after the May 13 Incident of racial rioting in the federal capital of Kuala Lumpur in 1969.