Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Hardly surprising

Hmmmmm...see if you can see the most unsurprising part of this article coming:
Authorities in a Malaysian city have warned waitresses and female staff of retail outlets that they face a $138 fine if they wear revealing and tight fitting clothes, a news report said Tuesday.
Wait for it...Wait for it...
The Kota Baru town's municipal council has said it will no longer tolerate indecent dressing and will begin enforcing an existing Islamic law that prohibits indecent dressing, The Star newspaper said.
And there it is. I bet you saw that coming a mile away. I know I certainly did.
Kota Baru is the capital of the northeastern Kelantan state, the only Malaysian state to be ruled by an opposition Islamic fundamentalist party. All other Malaysian states are governed by the secular United Malays National Organization and its allies.

The government in Kelantan imposes Islamic regulations such as separate check out counters for men and women at supermarkets.

The bylaw on proper feminine attire prohibits Muslim and non-Muslim women from wearing body hugging outfits, blouses that show the navel, see-through blouses, miniskirts and tight pants.

[...]

In addition to the general dress code, Muslim women are also bound by law to wear ankle-length dresses and to cover their hair and forehead.

"We apologize to non-Muslims if this comes across as harsh but we must respect our Asian culture and religion in public," State local government committee chairman Takiyuddin Hassan was quoted as saying.
That's funny. I'm no expert on Asian cultures, but I'm pretty sure that there are many of them that don't require women to cover up almost completely. Japan comes to mind. No, I'm actually pretty sure this has a lot less to do with the "Asian culture" thing than it has to do with the religion.

Anyway, this is a really bad idea. Don't they understand that once tight pants are outlawed, only outlaws will have tight pants?

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