The Malaysian Hotels Association (MAH) Penang chapter has revealed that the state's Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng is against the policy of barring female Muslim employees at the front desk from wearing headscarves.
Penang MAH president Khoo Boo Lim said the chief minister contacted him to express his concern, especially regarding MAH president Samuel Cheah's statement on the matter.
“The CM has expressed his dismay about such remarks which he considers discriminatory and an abuse of the basic human rights of working Muslim women to wear their choice of attire.
"The CM also considers the ban discriminatory because it has nothing to do with the employee's performance," he added.
Kho said Muslim women working in hotels located in Penang would not be barred from wearing headscarves.
"Penang hotels are open and welcome Muslim women working in our hotels who want to wear the tudung (headscarf)," he told a press conference at the state assembly lobby today.
Khoo also claimed MAH's initial statement on the issue was “slightly taken out of context”.
In a Nov 11 report in The Star Online, the MAH president was quoted as stating that the uniform policy has been practiced in international hotel chains for a long time.
“This policy is practiced in international hotel chains that use the same standard operating procedure on uniforms in all the hotels in their chain globally.
"The problem is everyone wants to join the five-star global hotel brand, but they do not want to follow the uniform policy that is their worldwide standard," added Cheah.
He was commenting on the Union Network International-Malaysia Labour Centre (UNI-MLC) highlighting complaints received from female hotel employees that their management does not allow them to wear headscarves at work.
UNI-MLC also said students in hospitality and tourism courses have also been instructed to remove their headscarves before going on internships or the company would not hire them.
As a result, some employees had no choice but to remove their headscarf during work before putting it back on after their shift ended.
Various quarters have condemned the policy while the Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) called on Muslims to boycott these hotels.- Mkini
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