Laws on decency should only be invoked if the conduct in question had threatened public order or the public's sense of decency, said Bar Council chairperson Yeo Yang Poh today.

The laws should not be invoked just because the conduct had offended those in power, he added in a statement yesterday.

Yeo was referring to the Federal Court ruling on Tuesday that a young couple can be charged with indecent behaviour for allegedly kissing and hugging in a public park.

The couple were allegedly caught embracing and kissing by Kuala Lumpur City Hall officials in August 2003 at a park located behind the Twin Towers.

The couple claimed that the officers had slapped them with summonses when they refused to offer bribe.

It's common

What has gone wrong here, according to Yeo, is that the authority seeks to invoke a law purporting to regulate decency in a way that a lot of Malaysians find unreasonable or ridiculous.

"Showing affection by holding hands, hugging and kissing is already common in our cinemas and television," he said.

He said the couple did not threaten society though some may find their action inappropriate.

"This is surely insufficient reason to criminalise such conduct," he said, adding that most people would understand what decency is without the need of a law to spell it out.

"Many Malaysians do not want to be hypocritical and see a person taken to penal task for something that we know in our hearts is well within the permissible limits of conduct in the 21st century," he added.

He said apart from a few areas of consensus or near consensus, questions of morality or decency can often become a subjective issue.