Dress codes and officials with petty minds

Often enough, power hungry civil servants make life miserable for us for no good reason.

COMMENT

By Mariam Mokhtar

With the recent controversy over a dress code surfacing in Selangor, perhaps we should spare a thought for those who live in poorer states like Perak. For decades, the provincial folk have been subjected to power-hungry civil servants and even guards who, on a daily basis, make it their duty to make the life of the rakyat a misery.

Dare we complain? Most of us do not for fear of incurring the wrath of these civil servants. Some of the more daring ones write to the papers, but the mainstream papers, in the days before the Internet, would seldom publish anything critical of any government department.

Members of the rakyat who live in the provinces and the smaller towns like Ipoh, who visit a government department to pay their rates, to renew their licences, apply for housing, or pay their bills, are often on edge. They know from experience that officials can make things difficult for them, sometimes out of pure whim.

Last May 1, The Ipoh Echo reported that a smartly dressed corporate affairs executive was stopped from entering the Ipoh City Council building by a security guard in the foyer of the building.

The guard told her that her dress and jacket did not match the requirements of the poster showing the “dress code”. Pictures of a man wearing a shirt and trousers, and a woman wearing a baju kurung (traditional Malay costume) and tudung (headscarf) were shown on the poster.

The Ipoh Echo’s article encouraged other people to write and list other government departments in Ipoh, such as the Urban Transformation Centre, the State Secretariat Building and the Meru government office, which regularly turned people away.

It looks like this petty mindedness has finally left the provinces. Last Monday, one Suzanna Tan visited the JPJ office at Wangsa Maju in Gombak to finalise the sale of her car. It was reported that her blouse and skirt was against the “dress code” of the JPJ, and she received flak.

For most of us, the dress code for visiting a government department seems unnecessary. Most people dress decently anyway and do not visit a government office, unless it is absolutely necessary. We would not dream of spoiling our chances of a favourable meeting with a civil servant by dressing like a slut or appearing slovenly.

Noor Farida Ariffin of the G25 group blasted the JPJ in a Malay Mail Online interview, saying it was “absurd” and “unacceptable” to force Suzanna to wrap a sarong around her hips.

She said, “It shows the infiltration of religious conservatism into public administration. This is a cause for concern, especially when it encroaches on the rights of non-Muslims.”

Noor Farida should have carried this further and queried the dress code’s application to Malays and Muslims. What about Malay women who are dressed decently but not in tudung or baju kurung? Will they be turned away too? Will a woman in a baju kebaya be turned away?

If everyone is to follow the “dress code”, Parliament should pass legislation to compel women to dress in baju kurung and tudung.

In both the Ipoh and Gombak cases, security guards were involved. Did the Pengarah know what these security guards got up to? Has the guard been made a scapegoat? Has he made his own interpretation of some petty ruling?

Despite the furore over the dress code, we may be overlooking something very obvious, which is the power hungry, petty-minded bureaucrat.

Men and women who have little or no power assume another persona when they don a uniform. Perhaps, it is not the Islamic dress code that is creeping into our lives. Many of us have experienced the excesses of a petty-minded, power hungry, small person who grabs a chance to make himself feel important. He abuses his authority and he succeeds because no one has bothered to stop him.

Mariam Mokhtar is an FMT columnist.