privacy and adultery

an extract of a comment i received at this post of mine:

If committing adultery is considered private as in the case of CSL, then I guess if he goes around killing somebody because that somebody blackmailed him, it would be OK, because it is a private matter?

an extract from a malaysiakini letter:

I am sick and tired of those who keep repeating the mantra that ‘It is no one’s business if something is done in private’. So it is okay to rape, steal, cheat, etc, if it is done in private? Does not the act itself deserve condemnation, whoever does it?

well, let me tell you, i am sick and tired of those who don’t know the meaning of privacy, those who equates CRIMES as privacy.

first of all let me say loudly, i do NOT approve of adultery. to me adultery is WRONG. very wrong. morally wrong.

but is adultery a crime? can the guilty party be charged?
are killing, rape, theft, cheating crimes?

adultery is usually where both parties consented to the act.
when killing, rape, theft, cheating happens, do both parties consented?

sure almost all killings, rapes, theft, cheating are done in private. the case of the little girl nurin being killed – it was done in private right? people siphoning off cash from bank account (theft) is done in private right? why do we condemn these acts? because the perpetrators does it to the victim. ‘victim’ here means that person as a victim of course does not agree to be killed or cheated!

in adultery, is there a perpetrator and a victim? no!

so how on earth can people compare adultery, said to be done in private, to crimes like murders, rapes, theft?

adultery is wrong for sure, and yes we should condemn adultery but when it happens to someone i don’t know, someone not related to me at all, why should i bother about it, since it is that someone’s private affair? it is a case of his/her private morality. who am i to question or judge his private morality? (especially when his/her partner is willing!) the only person/s right to condemn/judge him/her would be his/her spouse and family!

ok i’m talking here about privacy and adultery in general and this post of mine is just to bring up the point of people associating adultery with crimes (both done in private).

anyway, i guess some of you guys would link it to CSL’s case, bringing the point of him being a public figure, arguing that there is a difference being an ordinary people (like you and me) and being a public figure that is well-known, go and read this letter by jeffrey in malaysiakini. that letter more or less sum up my feelings. i believe this jeffrey here might be the same jeffrey from ‘where’s my noose‘ blog who rightly said that what malaysians lack is pragmatism and an ability to look at oneself in the mirror without seeing an angel or a saint.

btw, i recommend you to read anil netto’s ‘the gave sin of chua soi lek‘. (note esp. the last line)