I am very disturbed by Chief Justice Ahmad Fairuz Sheikh Abdul Halim's decision suggesting that kissing and hugging in public in the case of students Ooi Kean Thong, 24, and Siow Ai Wei, 22, constitutes disorderly behaviour and hence should be punished.

Firstly, his ruling concentrates power to the local councils to act as a 'moral police'. The authorities' role is to serve the public interest by ensuring that public services and facilities are in good order, that corruption is eradicated and importantly, that the democratic process is being upheld.

The authorities are not to act as our moral police as morality is a subjective issue, and whatever people's personal opinions and behaviour are, it is a personal choice and hardly enough to warrant the authorities' energies when they are more pressing issues. Should the authorities decide that they want to crackdown on 'disorderly behaviour', shouldn't they spend more time on 'disorderly behaviour' that are actually detrimental to others for example vandalism, erratic road closures and sexual harassment of women on the streets?

Secondly, if according to deputy public prosecutor Manoj Kurup 'local authorities could enact by-laws for the well-being of the public as long as they came within the ambit of Section 102 of the Local Government Act', then the public has a right to be consulted on such laws and to have their views taken into consideration.

This is to ensure that the laws are really reflective of the public's stand rather than being the product of a few people who feel they are entitled to impose their views on morality on others. Furthermore, the enforcement officers must be well trained in executing their enforcement. We have seen enough abuses in the process of alleged enforcement that leaves much to be desired, eg, in the case of Jawi's Zouk raid and Rela's Selayang Market raid.

These arbitrary, illogical and disturbingly oppressive 'mandates' have to stop as they are certainly not a reflection of a democratic society.