Miri mayor urges chief sec to review dress code at govt offices

Adam Yii says attire guidelines are not a law that should be ‘blindly’ enforced.

(FMT) – Miri mayor Adam Yii has urged chief secretary Zuki Ali to call for a review of dress codes for visitors at government offices and agencies.

According to The Borneo Post, Yii also urged Zuki to clarify the directives issued, saying dress codes were not a law that should be “blindly” enforced.

Yii, who is also the Pujut assemblyman, said government premises should be more tactful when it came to the guidelines.

“Members of the public usually visit government premises like hospitals or police stations to ask for help. In this respect, civil servants should provide good services to the taxpayers and not turn them away just because of their attire, unless it is downright inappropriate or obscene.

He said it was fortunate that there were no reports of such incidents in Sarawak, claiming it proved that government agencies there had become “relatively enlightened, rational and humane” under Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).

Yii is a member of the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), which is a GPS component.

Last week, a woman was turned away from the Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) office in Ipoh for wearing a dress that was deemed inappropriate as the hemline was not below the knee.

The SSM defended its dress code, saying it was a “good practice”.

In February, it was reported that a 60-year-old woman was barred from using the elevator at the Pasir Gudang City Council office after a security guard had deemed her attire “inappropriate”.

A 21-year-old woman had also claimed she was denied treatment at Kampar Hospital in February because she was wearing shorts.

In January, a woman who wanted to lodge a police report following a car accident was denied entry into the Kajang district police headquarters because she was “wearing shorts”.