OPINION | There must surely be bigger fish to catch!
3 Apr 2026 • 5:30 PM MYT
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Image credit: The Star/Asia News Network
There it was. Everyone seems to be patting themselves on the back for a job well done, and swift at that. Just three days after J and H were caught on tape with their pants down in compromising positions that did not leave much to imagination, 'justice' apparently was meted out. In those three, which must have felt like the longest days in their lives, the media had a field day. After a citizen's mobile phone footage appeared on social media, the mainstream media thought they were doing a public service by displaying the couple in different angles with their faces blurred, whilst their heads hung in shame. All details about them, right down to their names and date of birth, were laid bare.
Forgetting the line that they heard a hundred times over from the Book of John about only the one who had not sinned to cast the first stone, netizens had their two cents' worth of quirky jokes and uncalled-for comments about the accused's ethnicity.
In everyone's mind, the public had discovered something so profound, like the solution to the Israel/USA-Iran War. In reality, some random lady who had gone to perform ancestral worship at a Chinese cemetery, maybe she was the caretaker there, had caught the couple in action at the cemented part of the grave headrest. It had not been their first time caught in the act, apparently. Their mistake, besides exposing themselves in public, engaging in lewd acts, and not respecting the deceased, was to get caught. The world is an unkind place, and people are always looking for scapegoats to convince themselves that they are one step better than the person next to them.
If one were to dissect and scavenge through each other's closets, one is bound to find many skeletal remains. One is safe as long as he is not caught.
The next three days before the presentation at the court must have been torture. Cooped in prison for a non-criminal offence and being branded as public enemy number one is no joke. Hurled to court handcuffed and chained, like how Botak Chin was paraded in the 70s for the IGP to gloat, must surely be an overkill. Everyone got their thrills watching them.
A year's imprisonment for fornicating in public must surely be too excessive. No public was damaged, no public money was swindled, and no one, living or dead, was injured. It was merely a hokey pokey of two consenting frisky adults. No one heard complaints from the occupants of the premises.
J, with a stroke-stricken wife, longed for the intimate times with his other half. He must have met H, maybe in the same boat, with a similar need. Consenting to a quickie, they must have rushed to the nearest place of exclusivity, which was free, and they had gone many times before, the cemetery.
This reminded me of a story that happened a few years ago at a private golf course. The greens were repeatedly damaged by what everyone thought were wild boars from a nearby forest. The management decided to install CCTV cameras with night-vision capabilities to mark the area from which the wild boars originated and to inform the forest department accordingly. What they discovered later took them by surprise. The greens were damaged, not by beasts, but by beastly activities of golfers and their female caddies after dark. As the golfers were of high social standing, the management decided to discreetly inform the party involved and put the issue to bed.
That is the difference here. A person with deep pockets can summon the best legal representation to challenge any accusation and get away scot free on technicalities or some aberrant clause in the charge sheet. People with low incomes can just admit guilt. He may feel contented that his prior offences were not discovered. Conversely, he may feel that he deserved what he got because he had incurred the wrath of the Almighty. The world will move on.
In a world where moral standards are declining by the day, and smut is so freely available, surely engaging in carnal desires amidst the company of the departed souls does not require chains and bolts.
(P.S. After the sentencing, a lawyer volunteered his services to oppose the judgment. Malaysians probably have other juicy news to read and are least bothered by its outcome.)
There it was. Everyone seems to be patting themselves on the back for a job well done, and swift at that. Just three days after J and H were caught on tape with their pants down in compromising positions that did not leave much to imagination, 'justice' apparently was meted out. In those three, which must have felt like the longest days in their lives, the media had a field day. After a citizen's mobile phone footage appeared on social media, the mainstream media thought they were doing a public service by displaying the couple in different angles with their faces blurred, whilst their heads hung in shame. All details about them, right down to their names and date of birth, were laid bare.
Forgetting the line that they heard a hundred times over from the Book of John about only the one who had not sinned to cast the first stone, netizens had their two cents' worth of quirky jokes and uncalled-for comments about the accused's ethnicity.
In everyone's mind, the public had discovered something so profound, like the solution to the Israel/USA-Iran War. In reality, some random lady who had gone to perform ancestral worship at a Chinese cemetery, maybe she was the caretaker there, had caught the couple in action at the cemented part of the grave headrest. It had not been their first time caught in the act, apparently. Their mistake, besides exposing themselves in public, engaging in lewd acts, and not respecting the deceased, was to get caught. The world is an unkind place, and people are always looking for scapegoats to convince themselves that they are one step better than the person next to them.
If one were to dissect and scavenge through each other's closets, one is bound to find many skeletal remains. One is safe as long as he is not caught.
The next three days before the presentation at the court must have been torture. Cooped in prison for a non-criminal offence and being branded as public enemy number one is no joke. Hurled to court handcuffed and chained, like how Botak Chin was paraded in the 70s for the IGP to gloat, must surely be an overkill. Everyone got their thrills watching them.
A year's imprisonment for fornicating in public must surely be too excessive. No public was damaged, no public money was swindled, and no one, living or dead, was injured. It was merely a hokey pokey of two consenting frisky adults. No one heard complaints from the occupants of the premises.
J, with a stroke-stricken wife, longed for the intimate times with his other half. He must have met H, maybe in the same boat, with a similar need. Consenting to a quickie, they must have rushed to the nearest place of exclusivity, which was free, and they had gone many times before, the cemetery.
This reminded me of a story that happened a few years ago at a private golf course. The greens were repeatedly damaged by what everyone thought were wild boars from a nearby forest. The management decided to install CCTV cameras with night-vision capabilities to mark the area from which the wild boars originated and to inform the forest department accordingly. What they discovered later took them by surprise. The greens were damaged, not by beasts, but by beastly activities of golfers and their female caddies after dark. As the golfers were of high social standing, the management decided to discreetly inform the party involved and put the issue to bed.
That is the difference here. A person with deep pockets can summon the best legal representation to challenge any accusation and get away scot free on technicalities or some aberrant clause in the charge sheet. People with low incomes can just admit guilt. He may feel contented that his prior offences were not discovered. Conversely, he may feel that he deserved what he got because he had incurred the wrath of the Almighty. The world will move on.
In a world where moral standards are declining by the day, and smut is so freely available, surely engaging in carnal desires amidst the company of the departed souls does not require chains and bolts.
(P.S. After the sentencing, a lawyer volunteered his services to oppose the judgment. Malaysians probably have other juicy news to read and are least bothered by its outcome.)
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