The dress code was published on RTD’s Facebook page and Twitter account @JPJ_Malaysia after an uproar yesterday and a debate on all sides that seems to suggest that Malaysians remain divided along religious lines amid an increasingly conservative brand of Islam practised in the country.

The dress code published on RTD’s Facebook page.

Observers say that the incident of the RTD officers purportedly making the ethnic Chinese woman wear a full-length sarong in order to get service, who said she was at the RTD office for a vehicle ownership transfer, indicates creeping Islamisation in government departments whose workers are predominantly Malay-Muslim. “Visitors must dress neatly, cleanly and in accordance with Malaysian practice,” the RTD dress code read. “Practise decent dressing (T-shirts, collared T-shirts, shoes, long trousers, long skirts below the knee), especially during official business at offices at complexes. “Visitors are prohibited from wearing indecent clothes or clothes that expose the flesh, such as the following: skirt lengths above the knee or shorts, sleeveless shirts, tight shorts or skirts and slippers,” it added. RTD did not mention its reasons for the dress code. A public relations officer with the department told The Star that the incident is currently being investigated. “We are investigating when and where the incident happened. If we know where it happened, we want a report from that office," the officer was quoted saying in a report by the daily today. Both Muslim women and men are prohibited in Islam from exposing their “aurat” (certain parts of the body). The woman who had complained about the dress code on Facebook claimed that RTD officers told her they would not entertain her unless she wore the sarong. Government departments and agencies regularly enforce dress codes and will refuse service or even entry to those who do not comply.

* NOTE: An earlier version of this story wrongly stated that men in short sleeves would be barred service at RTD. The error has since been corrected. We apologise for any confusion caused.