hubby/wife, no hugging when in moscow

remember few months ago, in ipoh, there was this hue and cry over the action of some city councillors slapping a fine on a couple for holding hands? than later on we have a couple again being booked for ‘indecent behaviour’ in KLCC.

after reading about these news, many people jumped up and down making noises here and there. “do we need a moral guardian”. “we can’t even hold hands?”, “do the councillors have nothing better to do than spy on courting couples?” and so on….

well if you think it is only our country that does this kind of thing, you are wrong. it happened in moscow, russia too.

apparently it seemed that the city authorities were considering to ban kissing in metro moscow, particularly at its underground rail system. ok, fine maybe kissing shouldn’t be allowed but husband and wife embracing not allowed too?

read and see for yourself (which anyway since it is short, i reproduce the article here):

Kissing ban considered in metro, Moscow

MOSCOW, Russia (Reuters) — Couples caught kissing on Moscow’s underground rail system could be fined under new regulations being considered by city authorities while those going too far could face jail, a newspaper’s Web site said on Friday.

The kissing ban could even extend to a husband embracing his wife, Stolichnaya Vechernyaya Gazeta said on its Web site.

The newspaper, quoting unnamed sources, said the city authorities were thinking of introducing the ban to raise levels of public morality.

“From the New Year citizens kissing and embracing publicly will be fined,” it said. “Particularly blatant cases could even lead to a spell of temporary detention in jail,” it added.

It quoted a city education official, Tatyana Maksimova, as saying metro travellers were indulging in increasingly lax behavior including drinking alcohol from bottles and cans.

“Our children are getting love lessons all day long from what they see around them,” Maksimova said.

Moscow police would not comment on the report.