‘Muslim stewardesses should be allowed to wear tudung’
Reports by MARTIN CARVALHO, ASHLEY TANG and FATIMAH ZAINAL
MUSLIM air stewardesses should be given the right and choice to don the tudung, said PAS MP Ahmad Fadhli Shaari.
“I commend the move by the government to lessen discrimination against pregnant women. But how about the right of Muslim women to wear tudung?
“As I have stated before (using) Malaysia Airlines as an example, do their Muslim air stewardesses have a right to don the tudung?
“We are not asking that wearing the tudung is made mandatory but that Muslim women be allowed to choose to wear it,” the Pasir Mas MP said when debating amendments to the Employment (Amendment Bill) Bill 2021 in Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
He noted that employers who refused to allow their Muslim women workers the right to wear tudung, should be penalised.
Earlier, Ahmad Fadhli suggested that widows be given 30 days bereavement leave instead of the current three days.
Last December, Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman (PN-Kuala Krai) raised in Parliament that the uniforms of Malaysian air stewardesses were too revealing.
He urged the Family and Community Development Ministry to state its stand on the matter.
However, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rina Harun said the issue of workers’ welfare came under the Human Resources Ministry based on provisions under the Employment Act.
She also said that the issue of workers’ uniforms was governed under the policy of the airlines, which did not require approval from the Cabinet.