PETALING JAYA: A dress code guideline published by Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s upcoming 50th convocation ceremony has drawn criticisms from social media users.
A poster titled "Dress Code for UKM Convocation" bearing the university's emblem has gone viral on social media platforms.
Other than showing what's acceptable to wear and what's not for both graduates and guests, the bottom part of the poster also showed the prohibited outfits for men and women in a description and a picture.
The description said that jeans, short pants, T-shirts, slippers and sneakers, short and slit skirts, and pareos are prohibited.
However, in the picture, the saree and cheongsam, which are traditional dresses for ethnic Chinese and Indian women, were labelled as prohibited, alongside a short-sleeved blouse and knee-length pencil skirt outfit.
“UKM is this true? Why are you, a university, practicing supremacist policies? Please STOP,” said Twitter user Anne James @annejames44 in a post with the poster.
Similarly, Nadiah Ya'acob @imnadiahjacobs also questioned, "Why is kebaya or kurung allowed but not saree and cheongsam? Disgusting coming from UKM," she said.
Activist and lawyer Siti Kasim also criticised the guidelines.
"Since when a saree and a cheongsam cannot be worn for their own children's graduation, or by the graduates themselves?" she said on TikTok.
At press time, the dress code page on UKM’s official website in both English and Malay is undergoing updates.
"The dress code is currently being refined and will be uploaded soon. Sorry for the inconvenience," it said.
The Star has since reached out to UKM’s deputy vice-chancellor for student affairs' office for comments.
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