UUM dress code: response from a reader

I got this response from our of our readers in response to Tony's post on the UUM dress code. While his reply is not strictly education related, I thought that his remarks about the Outward Bound School (OBS) deserved to be heard given that many of young people attend OBS. (I was one of those and I found that the OBS camp was a good place to mix around with other kids from all races and backgrounds)

Dear Kian Ming,

I read you most recent blog on the UUM dress code issue. I cannot agree more with the fact that the Talibanisation of the nation is coming through fast and furious.

Your blog reminded me of a recent first hand experience I had with dress code. I was signed up for an outdoor course in our very own Outward Bound School (OBS) in Lumut about 2 months ago. One day we were told by the Malay instructor that we were to show up in our "wet wear" for a kayaking event. So what in the world would you think " wet wear" is?

I trooped out in a a swimming trunk with a T shirt over. Wet wear enough right? Apparently not. I was rebuked and rudely told off by the instructor. "Mana seluar kamu? Pergi tukar sekarang juga!"

When I asked him what was the reason why what I was wearing wasn't considered wet wear (obviously this person hasn't seen the Olympics swimming event" on TV, probably too engrossed with the jungle in OBS). He again told me off "Jangan cakap banyak, kamu tukar saja, kalau tidak, kamu jangan pergi".

On any normal day, had it happened in Singapore or anywhere outside Malaysia, I would have lodged a police report or gone to the press with my sorry. But sadly I knew then that it was a futile effort, least not in my beloved Malaysia. Like I said, I knew there and then that the Talibanisation of Malaysia is now almost complete. There's no point fighting a lost cause. Malaysia must surely be an Islamic state. Secular? Sure, if only in our dreams.

Ironically I was looking at some old pictures that OBS had displayed. Circa 1970s. The participants then went for their kayaking event decked in only swimming trunks, exposing their brown tan bodies for all to see. No complaints then, even though I believe by then Islam was already in Malaysia for more than 500 years.

Dress Code Controversy

Latest Update: The Dress Code decree by UUM has been retracted. See Sinchew (headlines today) or Oriental Daily for more reports.

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Ah, this must be one of the favourite issue for our Malaysian leaders. If only they have the same amount of passion when it comes to raising academic standards at our local schools and institutions of higher learning. I've written on the tudung controversy at Universiti Islam Antarabangsa previously, and now Universiti Utara Malaysia faces a similar controversy.


I cannot for the life of me figure out what is wrong with the prohibited dress code illustrated on the right above. Can you?

I don't have to say much about the above issue for Clare Ng of UUM had plenty to rant about it here on her excellent blog.

As I’ve ranted and criticised in countless posts before, this university is seriously crappy. Everything here is ridiculous including the rules and regulations especially their emphasis on dress code for their student.

Almost all the non-Muslim female students here wear similar attire to attend lectures, enter the library, see the doctor, dealing with official matter, etc (Yes, it is a MUST!).

She's funny too.

They had the nerve to come up with something this shitty without even conducting a proper survey around the campus. Where to get attire like the fourth girl on the left nowadays? So out-dated fashion where to get?

This is my final year here and I do not want to create any trouble for myself but this kind of ridiculous rules and regulations are getting on my nerves. Why do they have to come up with all these nonsense when they have a lot of other more important issues to skirt?

From the "approved" dress codes above, it appears that for non-Muslims, you are either expected to be suited up entirely, or you'll have to be in baju kurung.

I went to one of the top schools in the UK. Most of the time, I'm in track tops, track pants (badly torn by the final year) and worse, flip-flops. I attend lectures in old t-shirts and torn jeans. And I certainly wasn't the worst dressed nor was I not the norm. I can only speculate that with the decline in the quality of university administrators over the past decades, the focus on form now overwhelms the attention which should be paid to substance.

If anyone out there still insist that there isn't a religious and cultural assimilation (as opposed to integration) agenda and process happening in our country's schools and institutions of higher learning, he or she must be living in a totally different world.

Read also Enki's account of the same issue.

Oh, did you know that students are also "strongly encouraged" to open accounts with Bank Islam? Check out Clare's post here:

As I went about the campus attending lectures and going to the library, I noticed a lot of juniors as well as some seniors from my batch are wearing our Bank Islam ATM card around their necks! Well, the ATM card doubles as our metric card a.k.a. our identity card in the university. From what I heard from the juniors, memos had been passed that students MUST wear the ATM card around their necks like a dog tag! Failing to do so will cause us to become RM50 poorer! WTH!!!

They are absolutely out of their minds.

Footnote: This dress code issue is also reported in Oriental Daily today. However, I'm unable to find the same story online.