KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 10 — There is no need for the Perak state government to consider public opinion in its plan to implement special seating arrangements for married and unmarried couples in cinemas, controversial columnist Dr Ridhuan Tee Abdullah has said.

In his column published in Malay daily Sinar Harian, the lecturer said that teenagers often engage in inappropriate “touching and groping” when in cinemas which makes separating seating for unmarried couples necessary.

“As a Perak native, I am so frustrated when the ‘ultra kiasu’ dispute and even oppose something good that the Perak state government is trying to implement such as preparing special seats for married couples and forbidding those who are unmarried from sitting together in pairs.

“Something good like this doesn’t need public opinion. Just enforce it,” Ridhuan said.

He said it was useless for Perak authorities to heed the calls for improved infrastructure by the “ultra kiasu” if the state’s residents still behaved like “animals.”

“There is no need to be scared, even with the threats of the ‘ultra kiasu’, who want authorities to focus on more important things like more efficient services to taxpayers, issues of cleanliness and others.

“There is no point for the infrastructure to be tip top if people behave like animals,” he said.

Late last month, news station Astro Awani reported that Lotus Five Star (LFS) cinema has banned unmarried Muslims from selecting couple’s seats, which are adjoining seats without an armrest separating the two.

The ban has so far only been enforced at LFS’ Seri Iskandar outlet, a township with several tertiary education institutions, and not in the cinema chain’s three other outlets in Ipoh, Kampar and Parit Buntar.

Perak Tengah District Council president Mad Dan Hassan reportedly said later that the ban as decided during a full board meeting almost two years ago, and the notice subsequently issued to the LFS cinema on September 26, 2013.

It is unknown what by-law authorises the council to advise LFS’ management to implement the ban. It is also unclear how the cinema enforces the ban or what action will be taken for those who defy it.

LFS operates over 25 cinemas across the country, and is popularly known for showing Hindi and Tamil films.