DAP lawmaker: Cuepacs misses point on dress codes

Beruas MP Ngeh Koo Ham has corrected the Congress of Unions of Employees in the Public and Civil Services (Cuepacs) after it allegedly “missed the point” in its response to an earlier argument with the DAP lawmaker over dress codes.

Ngeh claimed that the organisation failed to “recognise the problem on the ground”.

“Never in my media statement did I advocate people not to be decently dressed when going to government departments.

“Generally, all of us are dressed decently and some of us are dressed up very smartly when meeting government officers.

“The issue is about denying service to those who purportedly failed to comply with the dress code set by the departments,” he said in a statement.

Ngeh cited a complaint he received from a lawyer whose attire was acceptable in court but she was denied entry to an education department on the basis that her knee-length skirt was deemed unacceptable.

The former Perak speaker’s response follows Cuepac’s opposition to his alleged call for action against heads of government departments for setting dress codes for the public when entering their offices.

Cuepacs president Adnan Mat

Cuepacs president Adnan Mat had labelled the DAP parliamentarian’s initial statement as a “superficial” and “irresponsible” opinion and that dress codes should be practised by all parties, including private companies.

In his initial call, Ngeh had urged Chief Secretary to the Government Mohd Zuki Ali to act against department heads accused of breaching the law when setting dress codes for the public.

He had stressed that the public should not be denied service solely on grounds of their attire, citing the example of a farmer wearing shorts and a singlet or Orang Asli in traditional clothing.

‘Assessment’ at guardhouse

Ngeh also claimed today that Adnan “obviously” did not know the problem on the ground when he suggested that civil servants can use their discretion to assess the situation before denying anyone services for dress code non-compliance.

"In all the above cases I cited they were denied entry at the guardhouse!

"How can the civil servants make the assessment?" Ngeh said.

He noted that civil servants should be exemplary in observing and respecting the law.

"As explained in my earlier media statement, ministers and civil servants derived their powers from the laws passed by Parliament.

"Regulations or rules made by ministers are illegal and void if they are outside the scope of powers (ultra vires) conferred by the Act of Parliament.

"There is no law giving government officers power to prescribe dress code for the public before services can be rendered to them," he said.

"A fortiori (all the more) rules made by government officers requiring the public to comply with certain attire before services can be rendered to them are illegal and void.

"Civil servants cannot be allowed to do things that are illegal.

“Dress code can be given as an advisory but not as a rule," Ngeh added. - Mkini