Tuesday, June 3, 2003
Malaysian
couples fined for holding hands in public
A story released today by Reuters reports that couples in the Malaysian city of Ipoh risk getting slapped with a fine if they hold hands in public.
About 30 unmarried couples have been fined 30 ringgit ($7.90) for holding hands in a drive to keep the city "morally clean," but the campaign has been rapped by rights groups.
"I think this is ridiculous," said Cynthia Gabriel, director of the rights group Suaram. "We are a modernising society and there's nothing wrong in expressing affection for each other.
"We feel that holding hands in public is not indecent behaviour," she said.
Malaysia's official religion is Islam but the constitution allows freedom of religion among non-Muslims, who account for just less than half the population.
None of the 30 couples fined in the campaign in Ipoh, Malaysia's third biggest city, were Muslims.
A columnist at the top-selling English-language daily the Star was indignant: "Religious zealots have no place in Malaysia," wrote Wong Chun Wai.
But Ipoh mayor Sirajuddin Salleh was unrepentant.
"It is not the hobby of the city council to fine people for no apparent reason," he told a newspaper.
The 400,000 people of Ipoh should keep the city "morally clean," he said.
