KUALA LUMPUR, June 10 ― The Road Transport Department (RTD) officers involved in the sarong cover-up furore should be named and shamed, much like how they shamed the woman who was made to wear the garment to get service at one of the agency’s offices, a PKR lawmaker said today.
PKR MP Sim Tze Tzin told Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai that it was necessary to punish the officers who he described as “little Napoleons” in the civil service.
“This is an issue of little Napoleons in the civil service, but we don't see stern action being taken upon them.
“We have to name and shame them. Today it is the RTD, tomorrow it might be the DCA (Department of Civil Aviation) and so on.
“The person who wore the attire was shamed but not the officers. I think naming and shaming is important,” Sim added.
Meanwhile, Ipoh Barat MP M. Kulasegaran asked the minister what was wrong with wearing shorts to seek service at a government department.
“What's wrong in wearing shorts to the RTD? You must be people-centric and people-oriented,” Kulasegaran said, adding such attire is allowed in Australian government departments.
In reply, Liow said that the dress code will be reviewed and the officers implicated in the incident will be punished, repeating remarks he made at a separate function earlier today.
The MPs were deliberating on on a recent incident where a middle-aged, conservative-looking ethnic Chinese woman was denied service at a RTD office for wearing a skirt deemed too revealing.
She was later forced to wear a sarong, before being entertained by RTD officers.
Responding to the incident, the government department later took to social media to publish its dress code, which shows that even men are prohibited from wearing sleeveless shirts.
Yesterday, the RTD issued a public apology to the woman on its Twitter account after admitting that it was not part of its policy to provide sarongs to visitors who fail to comply with its dress code.
Observers have said that the incident indicates creeping Islamisation in government departments whose workers are predominantly Malay-Muslim.
