(Parliament, Wednesday): DAPSY will be holding a demonstration against moral policing by local government in front of Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Raja Laut, Kuala Lumpur, tomorrow on Thursday (13-4-2006) at 1:30 pm. noon. 

We do not support indecent act in public, but we opine that law forbidding indecent act and its enforcement should not be carried out by local authorities.  There should be a uniform law applicable throughout Malaysia stating clearly what amounts to indecency. 

The Parks (Federal Territory of Putrajaya) By-Laws, 2002 as it stands, is too vague.  It merely prohibits any person from behaving in an indecent manner in public without defining what is indecent.  This leaves the DBKL enforcement officers with a wide discretionary power to selectively prosecute.

DAPSY strongly opposes moral policing by local authorities on the following grounds:

1.         the local authorities’ main duty is to provide basic services to the people, e.g. scavenging, road maintenance, street lighting maintenance, providing housing to the people, licensing, etc.  Most local authorities have not performed their duties to the expectation of the people.  The local authorities should concentrate their resources in doing what they are supposed to do, not to take upon themselves the duty to carry out moral policing.

2.         So far, those local authorities who have attempted to carry out moral policing are applying the Syariah principles onto both Muslims and non-Muslims.  This is a manifestation of Islamisation of Malaysia without respecting the rights and freedom of the non-Muslims.

3.         With more than 140 local authorities in the country, if each local authority comes up with a different set of law on decency, there will be chaos in the country.

4.         Given that Malaysia is a, multi-racial, multi-cultural and multi-religious country, different sectors of the population have different sets of acceptable standards on social behavior.  Should there be any law against indecency, the definition of “indecency” ought to be properly defined and acceptable to all.  It ought to be fully debated on in the Parliament.  It ought not to be merely drafted by some over-zealous officers of the local authorities according to their own perception of what amounts to “indecency”.

5.         Its implementation will put our country backward to the medieval times and is not conducive to our nation’s Vision 2020.

Given the serious implications of the issue, Islamisation of Malaysia, we DAPSY will be staging a demonstration in front of Dewan Bandaraya Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Raja Laut, Kuala Lumpur, tomorrow, Thursday (13-4-2006) at 1:30 pm. noon.  We call upon all those support the course to join in the protest.  We can be contacted at 017-2288221 (Chong Chieng Jen) & 012-5058662 (Fong Po Kuan)