wrong to show affection

“So, they should be given freedom to live as they like? The constitution allows all citizens to do that (hugging and kissing) even by the roadside, in public park?

“In England, those acts are acceptable to the people in that country but is kissing and hugging acceptable to Malaysian citizens? Is the act according to the morality of the Asian people?”

so asked ahmad fairus, the chief judge in the hearing to charge two students for behaving indecently by hugging and kissing at KLCC (kuala lumpur city centre) park.

morality of asian people? cheh! i hate this! just as i hate people saying “asian values” i also hate people saying “asian morals”. i don’t believe in segregating the people by countries/continents and slapping a label on them with stuffs like “them westerners are terrbile. no morals one. asians are better.”

my dear friends, morality and values are universal. there is no such thing as ‘asian values’ or ‘european values’ or ‘american values’.

coming back to the judge, when he asked “is the act according to the morality of the asian people?” who is he to judge for all asians what kind of morality asians are suppose to follow?

it is sad to learn that the judge had given local gomen the power to enact by-laws to prosecute people whom they found behaving indecently. who is to judge what is indecent? oh silly me, the judge just said the local gomen can judge.

it is really ridiculous to think that kissing and hugging is a crime. since when is an expression of love a crime? hey, kissing and hugging happens all the time among VIPs, you know. some countries, when VIPs meet, they will kiss each other on the cheek, and many VIPs (or famous personalitiees like actors, singers) hug each other openly in public. look further for example but our ex PM – remember the day when our mak cik minister with tears in her eyes hug our ex PM? why, just yesterday, in the front page of the star, our ex PM was shown hugging bollywood film star, shah rukh khan!

i understand if a couple is kissing passionately for longer than, say 3 mins., it is not very proper, but if it is just a slight kiss on the lips, what’s wrong with that? kissing is just to show affection, that’s all, why consider it an offence?

as we all know kissing scenes on tv or movies are also censored off. it is really strange that bolehland’s authority deem it fit to censor off show of affection while they bombard us with acts of violence and blood and gore on the tv/movies. shouldn’t violence be censored instead? is the gomen teaching our children that violence is ok but not show of affection? sad. sad. 🙁

this news made it globally:

BBC – kiss warning to tourists.
china daily – couple faces jail for publicly ‘hugging and kissing’
all headline news – malaysia: kissing and hugging in public considered indecent behavior.

read also lim kit siang’s blog on this topic.