The dressing is wrong again?

Writer: Lan Zhi Feng
Oriental Daily, June 29, 2015

If a dress could speak, it would sure to ask in the face of all the restrictions and controversy: “Why me? What have I done wrong?”

Why has a row over dressing occurred at JPJ, government building, a hospital, a school and even the airport? If the over-zealous enforcement of the dress code was not halted, they would spread like an epidemic to other places.
When that happens, Malaysia will be a laughing stock and our national image will be tarnished. Apology will not restore our image and will not solve the problem.

There is a code of conduct in every civilized society based on local requirements which should be reasonable and rational and should not be arbitrary or nitpicking, or even out just to gain popularity.

The Government has a dress code for a long time. It is nothing new and people know how to be respectful at certain occasions. They would not wear singlet or shorts, or a dress showing deep cleavage or mini skirt to government departments – unless the person has just arrived in our country.

There has been no incident in the past because we all understand that there is a bottom line. Nobody has crossed the line because a normal person goes to government department to settle things and not to demonstrate or create trouble. We want to settle things and not become a target of criticism and embarrass ourselves.

The sarong case and the ban from entering certain government departments show that such incidents are serious. There are those who have gone overboard. They should not have made things difficult for people who have dealings with the government.

We all know public service means providing services to the public. The Government has taken serious effort in improving the delivery system. It has set up UTCs which open seven days a week to help office workers to settle their problems with government. However, there are officials using the dress code as the supreme excuse to demand public compliance under the name of religion. They act arbitrarily thinking that nothing can go wrong if it is done as under the name of the government.

Clothes are to cover the body. With few exemptions, all human beings wear clothes to protect themselves against cold or insects. The religious people say clothing is to cover our modesty to avoid unnecessary imagination. Such view is gaining popularity.

The opposing view is using clothing to attract the opposite sex, to highlight certain attractive features or conceal their inadequacies in order to show their best assets.

Some friends have asked why the media keeps reporting on the dressing issue as if they have caught a commutable disease. The reports are almost similar except for the fact that different persons, places and clothing are involved. Aren’t there more important issues? What they implied was the media had sensationalized the issue.

I must say here that it is an important issue which affects all levels of our society and which is newsworthy. When such incidents occur repeatedly, they show that the problem is serious and the Government must take it seriously and take remedial action.

If we dealt with it lightly or we failed to rally strong public opinion against it, such incidents would happen repeatedly. Is it the kind of society we want to see? The media have concentrated on reporting certain issues such as road bully Kiki who used a steering rod in smashing a car windscreen and subsequent road rages. We have also reported the series of street crime and snatch theft cases.

The media is a reflection of society. Such news affects all of us. The dressing issue looks simple but it betrays more import problems which need to resolve. Public interest is also media interest.

Even though government departments involved in the dress code issues have responded to such incidents, it would still be difficult to prevent such thing from happening in other places. We don’t seem to have the inclination to learn.

Original Source:
又是衣著的错？