The All Women's Action Society (Awam) notes with deep concern the trend in persecuting Malaysians, female or male, on grounds of sexual impropriety or immorality.

Two recent cases illustrate this point. The first involving the young couple arrested for allegedly holding hands at the KLCC park, and the second, the arrests of a group of transvestites at a party in Kedah.

What struck us was the rationale for detaining those involved. It was not because they were causing harm to others, for in both instances, all those concerned were participating on their own free will. Rather, they were targeted because of the alleged threat they posed to the moral fabric of society.

At a time when social problems and violent crimes are prevalent in our society, and women especially face increasing threats to their safety, we would like to pose a question to the authorities.

Which makes more sense - addressing a situation where people have clearly been violated and working towards trying to prevent such a situation or expending energy trying to regulate the sexuality of the Malaysians in hope that we become 'better human beings'?

Put simply, wouldn't it be better to solve the various social problems that plague us (e.g. rape, beatings, murder, the lack of security in public spaces) rather than trying to penalise people who are not hurting anyone else?

The link between regulation of sexuality and moral standards has always been a tenuous one to make, yet because we have heard it so often, it won't be surprising if there are Malaysians who agree that controlling sexual behaviour is the way to ensure a morally upright society.

Apart from believing that every individual has the right to control her/his own sexuality, we also believe that associating sexual behavior and morality is problematic because it does not encourage us to address the root causes of societal problems today.

The writer is the president of Awam.