There has been public outrage in the social media over JPJ’s instruction to Suzanna G.L. Tan to cover herself with a sarong as she did not comply with the JPJ dress code.
Suzanna who had worn a blouse with a skirt that ended just above the knee had gone to a JPJ office to transfer the ownership of her car which she had sold. She revealed via her facebook that she had to wear the sarong or she would be denied service..
Public outrage is only natural as Suzanna had dressed herself decently. JPJ’s visitor dress code requirement is totally unacceptable.
If any JPJ officer wishes to argue that Suzzana has dressed herself indecently, let me challenge him/her to propose the same dress code to be applied for the Prime Minister’s Hari Raya open house and let’s see what will be the public reaction.
Similarly , if JPJ thinks it is right, it should propose to the Transport Minister cum MCA President Datuk Liow Tiong Lai to apply the same code at MCA’s Chinese New Year Open House and lest see what he will say.
When opening the Camerons Highlands JPJ branch office yesterday, Liow said that JPJ must shed its image as just an enforcement unit, and become more people-friendly and provide better services to the people.
If Liow is serious in wanting to improve JPJ’s image, the first thing he must do now is to instruct that JPJ rescinds/revises its unacceptable visitor dress code.
He must ensure that JPJ provide efficient services to all visitors who dress themselves in a manner that is appropriate for a public place.
I wonder why Liow had failed to take the necessary action last year when former law Minister Datuk Zaid Ibrahim had written about the JPJ dress code.
On August 29 last year, Zaid had written in his blog:-
The thing that bothers me is this imposition of a Muslim “identity” via a dress code. Just the other day, my friend Chinese friend was not allowed to enter a Road Transport Department office in Petaling Jaya because she was wearing shorts, thus showing her knees. The security guard told her that the RTD enforces their dress code strictly. This also means that the RTD imposes a Muslim dress code on others, even though the Transport Minister himself is a Chinese from a “moderate” Chinese party. This country, it seems to me, has gone completely upside down!
Zaid’s piece was carried din the internet media. (http://www.themalaymailonline.com/…/enforced-muslim-dress-c….)
If Liow claims that he had missed what Zaid said last year, he has no excuse this year as Suzzana’s case has been highlighted in The Star, the MCA owned paper.