Is it time for a Weird Practices Act?

Several years ago I was at a food court in the city. There were rows of tables with chairs for people to sit and I bought my food and drinks and paid for it before choosing to sit at a table. I was by myself and looked forward to enjoying my meal.

Just across my table there sat a well-dressed man. He was just sitting there and browsing through his mobile phone. Just as I was about to tuck into my food, the man picked his nose and rolled his snot with his fingers and proceeded to eat it.

I was aghast and ready to puke. In full view of me he smugly gazed back at me for a reaction. I knew he did it on purpose and so I took my tray of food and drinks to another side of the food court far away from him.

There I composed myself first and let my stomach settle before I proceeded to eat and drink. But the experience, a real-life one, proved to be a learning curve as to how spiteful and nasty some people can be and just imagine being able to eat your own snot.

This is why, in the light of Malaysia’s foray to become an advanced and developed nation, it is time to do away with archaic and obsolete laws like the Sedition Act and others, and formulate new and relevant laws like, for example, a Weird Practices Act.

Being weird is now common

Nobody needs to be told that being weird is now common. I’m sure many of you in this country or abroad have come across weird experiences. Some, or rather most, tend to be harmless encounters that just rattle or upset you. But there are also those that are also dangerous and evil.

When I was working in an office complex in the city about as far back as twenty years ago, I remember one morning entering the building and wanting to use the washroom. Each corner of the building had a washroom and I proceeded to the nearest.

Just as I entered the washroom I noticed a young man hurriedly defecating in the urinal. In these washrooms there are a number of urinals but only one toilet and the toilet happened to be occupied. When the young man saw me he quickly zipped up and ran past me.

The urinal seemed to be reeking with so much of faeces. It was obvious the man could not control himself. But just as I was wondering why on earth he didn’t rush to another washroom and ease himself comfortably, the cleaning woman came in.

She let off a groan of agony and started cursing and swearing that I quickly walked off to use another washroom. It’s understandable if you have difficulty controlling your desire to answer the call of nature. But there is always a pragmatic solution and not the weird solution of using a urinal.

If as far back then I was witness to weird acts and deeds, how much more now? This is why to prevent more Malaysians from breaking out in hives there must be a serious and determined bid to implement a new range of relevant and pertinent laws like a Weird Practices Act.-Mkini