GEORGE TOWN, Nov 13 — Muslim women working in Penang hotels are not barred from wearing the "tudung” (headscarf), the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) said today.

MAH Penang Chapter president Khoo Boo Lim stressed that there were no such policies barring tudung-clad women from working in hotels in Penang.

"There are no hotels in Penang that practises such a ruling barring their female hotel staff from wearing the tudung,” he told a press conference today.

He said Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has expressed his concern over a statement made by MAH president Cheah Swee Hee, who reportedly said prohibiting female front-line workers like receptionists and wait staff from wearing headscarves was international practice.

"We share the chief minister’s concerns that Muslim women should be allowed to wear the ‘tudung’ and should be judged strictly on their performance,” he said.

Cheah was quoted in an online news portal as saying that it was a standard operating procedure practised by hotels worldwide.

Khoo said Cheah’s statement was misrepresented and that Cheah had already issued another statement on the issue.

This issue came up when the Malaysian Labour Centre of the Union Network International (Uni-MLC) recently alleged that hotel female employees had complained about being told to remove their headscarves.