KUALA LUMPUR – A guard at a Social Security Organisation (Socso) office in Penang has been suspended for “moral policing” by denying entry to a woman for wearing a skirt.
The guard, a People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) personnel, was suspended by the Socso management yesterday pending an investigation, Malaysiakini reported Socso chief executive officer Mohammed Azman as saying.
Mohammed said the Rela personnel’s action was conducted “beyond management’s knowledge” and was outside the guard’s “scope of duty”.
Malaysiakini also reported that the issue was highlighted by lawyer Ajit Singh Jessy whose colleague was the woman prevented from entering the Socso office on Jalan Burma in George Town on June 28.
Although his colleague was wearing a knee-length skirt, the Rela personnel on duty said her skirt length should reach her feet because “that was the rule”.
At the lawyers’ repeated questioning, the guard finally relented but said “next time cannot”, Malaysiakini reported Ajit saying.
The lawyer had questioned how security guards, whose duty is building security, could decide on dress codes for the public.
Moral policing over dress codes at government agency offices has been reported sporadically and led to Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Ramkarpal Singh expressing disagreement with such moves, adding he would meet authorities over the matter.
Ramkarpal said this after an incident the same month where a woman was turned away from the Kajang police station by a low-ranking officer when she tried to lodge a report.
In March, the Malaysian Companies Commission turned away a woman at its Ipoh office for her hemline length.
In October last year, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia came under fire for, at first, banning cultural wear such as the cheongsam and saree, at its convocation ceremony. The dress code guidelines were later removed. – The Vibes, June 30, 2023
