In the past two months, there’s been a number of draconian enforcement on the dress code policy which has resulted in a public uproar, especially on social media.

It has never been an uncommon thing to spot signs indicating “inappropriate attire” in government buildings and areas with public facilities, however, going as far as to refuse service because of a citizen’s attire has left many feeling angry.

These are the few of many viral cases in which citizens had to go through the extra lengths to be made compliant.

1. The Pink Shorts incident

Photo credit: Places And Foods

On May 7^th, Wilson Ng was prevented from collecting his luggage from the baggage department at KLIA for wearing a pink knee-length shorts and slippers. Mr. Ng and his family had just returned from a family vacation at Taipei, but when he forgot to collect one of his bags and needed to return to the Lost and Found area to get his luggage, he was prevented from doing so. He was asked to change into a long black pants to retrieve his luggage. Malaysian Airports Holding Berhad (MAHB) apologized to Mr. Ng after clarifying the matter and found that the issue stemmed from a miscommunication on the implementation of a policy relative to the issuance of visitor passes.

2. The Hospital Towel-wrap incident

Photo credit: Facebook profile of Nisha Daddygal

On June 16^th, a woman was forced to wrap a towel around her to cover legs, in order to gain entry into the Sungai Buloh Hospital. The woman’s father had to rush to his sister’s ward to grab a towel in order for her to wrap it around the waist. The hospital’s security personnel said that the instructions were handed to them by the Ministry of Health. The woman’s father arequested a letter from the authorizing party regarding the policy but was asked to leave a note in the suggestion box instead.

3. The Lawyer incident

Photo credit: The Malay Mail Online

A lawyer named Katy Chan tried to enter the Federal Territories Director of Land and Mines’ office on the 26^th of June to collect some documents on her client’s behalf but was stopped by the security guards on duty for her skirt was not exactly at knee length. She was asked if she had a pair of pants to wear at the time. The inconsistency arose when she mentioned that she had no problem with her attire when she went to the income tax department wearing that very skirt.

4. The Sarong Incident

Photo credit: The Malay Mail Online

Suzanne Tan visited the Road Tax Department (RTD) on the 9^th of June for the purpose of transferring ownership of her car after selling it. However, when she arrived at the office, she was forced to put on a sarong or face a refusal of service. The RTD subsequently wrote an open letter of apology to her because there is no such “sarong policy” to begin with.

5. The Journalist incident

A journalist and a visitor were wearing dresses when they decided to enter the state secretariat building in Shah Alam. They were both denied entry for wearing skirts deemed too short. The journalist then drove over to another entrance, where she was allowed to go in. The state secretary said that the guard had acted on his own initiative. He then apologized on behalf of the state government.

6. The Gymnast Incident

Farah Ann Abdul Hadi, a national gymnast, received backlash despite winning 2 gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal at the SEA games simply due to her gymnastic attire. This resulted in the Malaysian Gymnastics Federation (MGF) in coming up with a new dress code for female Muslim gymnasts to suit and cater to the Islamic code of dressing. She managed to gain the support of the Sultan of Selangor, however, receiving a congratulatory letter saying that “criticizing your attire should be the last matter in the minds of those who commented negatively on social media.”

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