PETALING JAYA: Clear-cut guidelines are needed to address the ongoing dress code controversy, says community leaders and former ministers, who also called for a stop to moral policing.
Alliance for a Safe Community chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye expressed regret over the recent incidents, in which the public who were deemed “improperly dressed” were banned from entering government facilities.
He said these incidents were totally uncalled for.
“I think the Chief Secretary to the Government should put a stop to the issue once and for all by coming up with a clear-cut guideline on what is deemed decent or indecent attire,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Lee said such cases have been happening far too often and the relevant authorities must take immediate steps to prevent any recurrence.
“The dress code guideline must be clear-cut in order not to leave any space for individual interpretations. It should be clear irrespective of who is in charge of the department,” he noted.
He was commenting on an incident last Thursday, in which a man clad in shorts was given a sarong to wear before he was allowed into the Kuala Selangor Municipal Council building in Selangor.
A 53-second viral video shows the man putting on the sarong after being told to do so by a security guard.
Three days earlier a 72-year-old man was turned away by a security guard at Hospital Seberang Jaya in Penang after his outfit was deemed “inappropriate”.
In a response, newly-appointed Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said attending to patients should be the hospital’s priority, not how they are dressed.
“The triage must be based on the severity of illness and not the patient’s attire,” he wrote on X last Friday.
Former Cabinet minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz has supported the call made by Dr Dzulkefly, saying that government officers or hospital staff should focus on triage issues and on caring for patients.
“The focus on attire is a clear example of diverting attention to non-issues and trying to be the moral police,” she said.
She also noted that the entire government service has specific areas of functions, adding that it is in the context of efficiency in bringing about the objectives of socio-economic development.
“No government functionary should divert attention and effort into non-issues, more so when the public is unnecessarily harassed and inconvenienced,” she added.
