Indonesia last week banned public schools from prescribing religious attire to its students in reaction to a public outcry after a school in the West Sumatran city of Padang made it mandatory for all female students, including non-Muslims, to wear the Muslim headscarf.
In Malaysia, the education ministry has had a no-coercion policy at least since 1992. Realities on the ground, however, do not reflect that.
Malaysian filmmaker Norhayati Kaprawi, whose 2011 documentary “Aku Siapa?” explored reasons why Muslim women and girls wear the tudung, told FMT those she interviewed for the film said they were pressured into wearing it or humiliated for not wearing it.
“This happens in schools, too,” she said.
“There are schools which create their own rules and regulations. The ministry does not take any action unless a parent lodges a complaint.”
A circular from education ministry director-general Asiah Abu Samah to state education department directors dated March 14, 1992 said the ministry “strictly prohibits” any pressure on female students to wear a tudung or telekung in school.
In 2012, deputy education minister Puad Zarkashi was quoted as reminding school principals they could “only encourage” female Muslim students to wear the headscarf.
“They can’t force female Muslim students to wear tudung,” he said in a press interview.
Speaking to FMT, Parent Action Group for Education honorary secretary Tunku Munawirah Putra said some girls were still subject to shaming from classmates or teachers for not donning the scarf in school.
Some had changed schools as a result, she said.
“It’s really not about the law. It’s more about stopping the ridicule and mental torment of those who face compulsion.
“I know of a friend’s daughter who refused to blend in and was subjected to torment by teachers. It’s too hard to fight this and easier to just leave,” she said.
Tunku Munawirah also told of a friend’s daughter whom a teacher stopped from attending a class because she did not wear a tudung.
The family has since moved to Canada.
Suhakam commissioner Madeline Berma said the issue affected more than just public school students.
Peer pressure and social expectations had also cemented the practice among older Muslim women in public universities, she said.
Berma is a former associate professor at a public university.
Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Indonesia’s religious minister, has said fundamental liberties should not be compromised when addressing the issue. Reuters quoted him as saying that “there are no reasons” to infringe upon others’ freedom in the name of religious expression.
Norhayati said the dress code for Muslims in Malaysia was now increasingly based on standards set by conservative Muslims’ understanding of morality, adding that it was a “problem” for all Malaysians that this group had been able to impose its own understanding of the religion onto others.
She pointed to reports of non-Muslims being reprimanded, or not being allowed to enter certain government buildings, because of the way they dress.
Just as alarming for the filmmaker is her observation that many Muslim women and girls feel their faith being questioned if they do not wear the tudung in public.
“The issue of tudung is actually an issue of jurisprudence, but yet they make it an issue of faith,” she said.
“On issues of corruption and abuse of power, they somehow don’t find it reaching that level. But on the issue of tudung, suddenly it’s ‘either you are Muslim or not’.”
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