Dress-code incidents threaten secular Constitution, says former judge

KUALA LUMPUR — The recent spate of incidents involving Malaysian government agencies and public buildings enforcing a conservative dress code should not be left unchecked, as these measures threaten the country’s secular Federal Constitution, said a former judge and member of a prominent group that has been vocal against Islamisation yesterday.

Ms Noor Farida Ariffin, a former Sessions Court judge, told the Malay Mail Online that the enforcement of the dress codes at public institutions appeared to indicate a “pervasive” religious conservatism among many Malay Muslims, especially when their criticisms were directed towards the women who broke the dress codes.

“My view is that if these unhealthy developments are not checked by the government, our secular state and secular Federal Constitution are at risk,” she said.

Ms Noor Farida is part of the so-called Group of 25 — which consists of former Malay high-ranking civil servants — that is pressing Putrajaya to assert the supremacy of the Federal Constitution over Islamic state laws in the country.

She added that if no action is taken by the government, Malaysia might end up like the fundamentalist Muslim states of Saudi Arabia and Iran. As an example, she said laws passed by Iran’s Parliament require the approval of the Guardian Council, which comprises the ayatollahs or supreme religious leaders.

Saudi Arabia is also widely viewed as the archetype of religious conservatism, where dress codes play a fundamental role in society and law.

“Are our politicians prepared to give up their power to unelected religious officers if we become an Islamic state and if Syariah law replaces the Federal Constitution as the supreme law of the land?” asked Ms Noor Farida.

The former judge pointed out that Malaysian society is now divided between conservative Muslims on one side, and liberal Muslims and non-Muslims on the other.

“In my view, part of the reason for the growing conservatism is the way Islam is taught in schools, mosques, religious gatherings and the media,” she said.

Ms Noor Farida said religious teachers are teaching students a very conservative and narrow brand of Islam that overlooks the main messages of the religion. Instead, the emphasis seems to be on punishment and moral policing. “Women are the main victims, as they have been portrayed as temptresses out to entice men from the path of virtue with their uncovered heads and sexy dressing,” she said.

She urged civil society and the “silent majority” to speak up, and pressed the government to change the religious curriculum in schools to one that teaches a more progressive brand of Islam, as well as review staffing in religious departments.

There have been at least three incidents of dress-code enforcement at public institutions in Malaysia this month.

A woman recently complained on Facebook about being barred from entering the Sungai Buloh Hospital because she was dressed in shorts, saying she was forced to borrow a patient’s towel to cover her legs.

The incident followed two other similar happenings, where two women were told at the Selangor state secretariat building to wear sarongs over their knee-length dresses, and another was also forced to don a sarong over her skirt at an Road Transport Department office.

While media coverage of these incidents has elicited criticism of the agencies by the English-speaking audience, the reverse is true among the Malay-speaking public. On social media, Malay-speaking users have instead targeted their disapproval at the women for their attire. THE MALAY MAIL