Sealed with a kiss on Valentines’ Day? Jail awaits you in Malaysia if done in public

Although Valentine’s Day is not native to this region, an increasing number of urban couples observe it by giving gifts or taking the wife or girlfriend out for a romantic dinner.

It has become so glamourised that a man can be seen as being unromantic, or even made to feel guilty, if he does not take his wife or girlfriend out for dinner or get her a rose at least.

Of course, it does not come without benefits. A Valentine’s Day gift or dinner may, if the man is fortunate, get him a kiss or two – perhaps on the cheek, perhaps on the lips.

Romantic love has become so intertwined with the kiss today that it’s difficult for some of the young to understand why some “oldies” or “religious purists” get upset about a lip-kiss in a movie or between a loving couple in public.

A 5 January report said the Malaysian adaptation of a South Korean series was slammed by many people for a scene where one character kisses another on the lips. The criticism came despite the director placing a piece of cloth between the couple to ensure there was no actual physical contact.

The two actors and director Yusry Abdul Halim apologised following criticism that it was insensitive to local Muslim culture.

Today, we do not find any picture of lip-kissing in locally published newspapers and magazines.

The history of the kiss in media

But there was a time, up till the 70s, when one could find photographs of kissing scenes in the entertainment or movies section of locally published English newspapers and magazines.

For instance, a picture of actors Sydney Poitier and Joanna Shimkus kissing accompanied a news item about a forthcoming movie “The Lost Man” in the 3 April 1970 issue of the Sunday Gazette.

On 16 May 1977, the National Echo carried a brief story with a picture of film stars Regis Toomay and Jane Wyman kissing. The caption read: “The longest kiss in movie history is 185 seconds by Regis Toomay and Jane Wyman in the film ‘You’re in the Army Now’ released in 1940.”

Anthropologists are not settled on whether kissing is innate or learned; whether inborn or a product of culture, although many lean towards the view that it is learned. One reason for this is that the sexual-romantic kiss is not found in all human cultures.

And even in those places where lip-kissing was practised, there were times when it was popular and times when it was not.

It probably started off as something the elite in society indulged in.

In Europe, for instance, kissing apparently had a field day during the Roman Empire but after it collapsed, the romantic kiss went missing – at least from the records. It reemerged in the eleventh century when princes, princesses and nobility discovered a taste for it.

In more recent times, kissing was a crime in some places. For instance, in 1937, one Julia Clarke was sentenced to a month in jail after being caught kissing her boyfriend on “church property” in County Louth, Ireland.

But by then Clarke had fled to her native Scotland and the jail term was imposed so that she would never return. Her boyfriend though had to pay a fine for the kiss.

Most Asian cultures continue to frown on kissing in public or even, in the case of some, in movies.

In the 1920s, when Rodin’s “The Kiss” was exhibited in Tokyo, the exhibition authorities placed a bamboo screen around it and one had to have special permission to look at it.

But today, kissing is an accepted part of Japanese drama series and movies.

In fact, it’s not unusual to find characters kissing in movies made in many Asian countries such as India, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.

Still one will find that some of these kisses are the touch-and-go type and not deep, passionate and lingering ones. This is probably because most Asians – including Malaysians – feel lip-kissing is something intimate and should stay in the bedroom.

The very first movie kiss ever is said to be in a seconds-long 1896 film titled "The May Irwin Kiss" filmed in the studio of Thomas Edison who invented the kinetoscope, an early movie camera. It featured actors May Irwin and John Rice. In 1900, Edison - the man who gave us the bulb and paved the way for other modern comforts - made another short film titled "The Kiss."

By the 1960s, American movies had become a little more daring and this continued in the early 1970s. In fact, many of the American movies that I watched in local theatres – such as “Love Story” and “Grease” - had vivid kissing scenes.

The question of whether art imitates life or life imitates art has yet to be resolved but one thing is certain: so long as there are lovers, the kiss is here to stay - even though it may be hidden from public view.

You can be jailed in Malaysia for kissing

However, Malaysian couples should keep in mind that they can be jailed for kissing in public, Valentine’s Day or not.

For instance, they can be charged under Section 294(a) of the Penal Code which states: “Whoever, to the annoyance of others - (a) does any obscene act in any public place…shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with fine or with both.”

In 2006, a local couple was found guilty of behaving in a “disorderly” manner (kissing and hugging under a tree in a park) under Section 8(1) of the Parks (Federal Territory of Putrajaya) By-Laws, 2002, which states “No person shall behave in an indecent manner in any park.”

So, as you celebrate Valentine’s Day, keep your lips to yourself when in public.

A.Kathirasen is a veteran Malaysian journalist/editor who has been writing columns, with breaks, in newspapers and online since 1981.

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