No basis to impose dress code on non-Muslim women says MCA's Ti

PETALING JAYA: The call to non-Muslim women to dress conservatively, is a form of subtle pressure which may lead to the imposition of conservative values by religious authorities on non-Muslims, said MCA Religious Harmony Bureau chairman Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker (pix).
"We hope this is not one method to silence Malaysian minorities as well as Muslim women into coerced compliance to the personal beliefs of the Muftis," he said.
He said MCA was alarmed that not only has Kelantan Mufti Datuk Mohamad Shukri Mohamad urged non-Muslims to dress conservatively during the holy month of Ramadhan, but that a similar call was also made by Pahang Mufti Datuk Seri Dr Abdul Rahman Osman.
He said according to Abdul Rahman, as Islam is the official religion of the country, the government can regulate the dressing of the people irrespective of their religion.
Ti said MCA did not want a situation where local council enforcement officers exploited this opportunity to carry out moral policing on women, in particular, harass non-Muslims whose physical appearance may seem like Malays but are not.
"Malaysia does not need to descend to the ranks of Saudi Arabia where religious police are known to rotan the ankles of women if they are revealed, or the Syariah police of Aceh in Indonesia who humiliated women by publicly cutting and spray painting the long pants of women deemed too tight," he said in a statement today.
He said so long as non-Muslim women are attired decently and do not publicly flaunt their bare bodies, and observe the dress code of houses of worship, there is no basis whatsoever to impose such dress codes.