KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 — Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz questioned today the motives of those who criticised national gymnast Farah Ann Abdul Hadi’s SEA Games attire, asking if they were only watching the sport to examine the athlete’s outfit and body shape.
In her column in Malay daily Utusan Malaysia, the outspoken former minister slammed Farah Ann’s critics, saying instead of imposing their personal beliefs on others, they should know better how to identify matters that are subjective in nature.
“The question is — were these people watching the event just to stare at body shapes and dressing and not watch the athlete’s performance?” the Umno veteran asked.
“They have a choice,” Rafidah pointed out.
“They don’t have to watch the sport and see what, in their personal opinion, is indecent or inappropriate dressing!”.
The former Wanita Umno leader was weighing in on the uproar over SEA Games gold medallist Farah Ann’s games attire that critics alleged showed the “shape of her vagina”.
Several Facebook users had last week slammed the 21-year-old Malay woman on Buletin TV3’s Facebook page after it uploaded a photograph of her in the gymnastics outfit, along with a caption that announced her winning gold in floor exercise in artistic gymnastics.
Farah Ann has since received an outpouring of support, however, from Malaysians who pointed out that the athlete should be celebrated for her performance at the games, which not only saw her take home goal, but three bronze medals and a silver in other individual events.
In her column, Rafidah said Malaysians should be rational-thinking citizens and should help their country achieve excellence instead of focusing their priorities on imposing their personal morals on others.
The former minister also cited as example the recent uproar over a woman’s complaint on social media that she was made to don a sarong by Road Transport Department (RTD) officials after she turned up in a skirt deemed indecent according to the agency’s dress code.
“The question is — since when are departments and organisations the public’s personal stylists?” Rafidah asked.
Instead, she said such departments should have customer charters that focus on other more pressing matters such as offering good and efficient service to the public.
The term “civil servant”, she pointed out, ultimately translates to “serving the public”.
“It does not mean they are the public’s dress stylist or the public’s boss,” Rafidah said.
The RTD has since issued a public apology to the woman, an ethnic Chinese, 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.
Since then, however, observers have said that the incident indicates creeping Islamisation in government departments whose workers are predominantly Malay-Muslim.
Both Muslim women and men are prohibited in Islam from exposing their aurat, though criticisms are more often targeted against women.
