Iranian Revolution the catalyst for ‘tudung code’

TRACING the beginning of the tudung issue, it can be safely deduced to have started in the early 1980s. The period was landmarked by the 1979 Iranian Revolution, which was also dubbed the Islamic Revolution. 

It forced the end of the Shah of Iran Mohamed Reza Pahlavi’s monarchy and replaced it with an Islamic Revolutionary Council with Ayatollah Khomeini ruling supreme. 

The revolution captured the imagination of not only those from the Middle East but many Malay Muslims here.  

If the Iranian Revolution saw the new government insisting on policies interpreted to be Islamic (which included the ruling that all women in the country must cover themselves up), the Islamic movement in Malaysia demanded likewise from the Government. 

The members themselves began donning what they described as Islamic garb, from flowing robes and turban for men and the chador-like flowing robe complete with the tudung, if not the veil, for the women. 

Some of the female Muslim students who decided to cover themselves from head to toe ended up being expelled from their universities for refusing to reveal their faces for identification. 

In short, those donning the garb were under siege. 

However, the wave or what was dubbed to be an Islamic revival persisted. More and more Malay Muslims wanted to express their piety through form and not substance. 

The Malay lifestyle changed, to the extent of discarding some cultural practices.  

By the mid-1980s, within six years of the Iranian Revolution and the Islamic revival in Malaysia, instead of being the minority, the tudung-clad Malay Muslim women were becoming the majority in institutions of higher learning. 

In the civil service, a similar trend was progressing. By the end of the decade, it was obvious that the tudung was going to stay.  

By then, with the numbers on their side, the Islamists had begun to make demands for more widespread reforms in Malaysian governance, administration, policies and all worldly affairs. 

The only thing stopping a comprehensive change in the Malaysian administration was the power-sharing concept of Barisan Nasional, which gave due consideration to multi-racial co-existence. 

When, in 1990, Kelantan fell into PAS’ lap, the Islamists in PAS were quick on the draw – introducing legislation from criminal law enactments, cultural by-laws, social behaviour and dress codes and even discouraging women from wearing make-up to work and leaving the lights on in cinemas. 

PAS not only used the issue to promote its Islamic credentials but also undermined Umno’s Islamic commitment. 

Near the tail end of the 1990s, when Terengganu also fell to PAS, Umno was pressured to prove that it was as committed to the Islamic cause as its rival PAS. 

That was the beginning of the Islam one-upmanship between Umno and PAS, which redefined the Malay schism. By then, Islam was no longer just an issue politicised within the Malay heartland but also in the urban centres. 

This effort to out-Islamise the other resulted in PAS going to extremes by introducing legislation that did not make it popular among non-Muslims. But it pressured Umno further in the Malay dominions. 

While Umno continues to be favoured by the non-Muslims, it was losing its grip on its Malay voters, not only in the rural constituencies but also those in the urban areas. 

Umno started grasping at straws with some of those without ideas adopting policies that were akin to that of PAS – closing entertainment outlets and also urging the leadership to push for the Islamic dress code for their women's wing. 

To a certain degree, Umno too changed in its form. Some of its women started to don the tudung, or at least the selendang, when attending public functions. 

The tudung continues to be a strong subject for either party to pursue their religious credentials. – By SHAMSUL AKMAR 

 

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