The recent incident involving the raid on an entertainment outlet and the incarceration of several youths has threatened to undo what we Malaysians have tried to forge over the last three generations since the inception of our Independence.

The Jawi raid was an anomaly - a knee-jerk reaction from some quarters of the government towards increasing permissiveness in society. However, looking at the media reports and anecdotal accounts retrospectively, I have come to the conclusion that our society, or rather our more vocal select few, have missed the point all together.

The issue at hand should be both the manner in which these raids are conducted and the reason for them. To just focus on the raids and not on the accompanying reasons would also be another knee-jerk reaction.

The government should maintain more control over its agencies especially those involved in the enforcement of its laws. This does not only mean the various religious affairs departments but also the police in order to ensure due course of the law and to prevent abuses or anomalies as aforementioned.

These agencies should be equal partners in ensuring the strict observance of laws enacted by an elected parliament. One should not be beholden to another but there should be more communication between one another.

A simple way would be to establish practical guidelines as to how raids should be conducted and ensuring the presence of 'monitors' from impartial non-governmental organisations or related government agencies.

Now we can proceed to the crux of the matter which I believe is the slippery-slope towards greater permissiveness society in currently sliding down on.

We Malaysians are culturally distinct with a plethora of religious, racial and social backgrounds. We have all contributed towards enriching this society of ours and made it the envy of many.

This has all been achieved through tolerance and a great sense of social, political and civic decorum. Should we then throw it all away through mere emulation of Western practices regardless of their relevance in our society?

This 'growing' sense of individual freedom over and above the greater good of the majority has been pushed to the fore by a select few who seem to have the attention of the media and the ruling elite despite their misrepresentation of the wishes of the silent majority.

I, for one, would like to speak on behalf of the silent majority in negating their misguided sense of freedom without obligations and responsibility. I also urge them to rethink their approach by engaging the views of a wider cross section of the community first before imposing the views of a select few on the silent majority.