(politics) Chet, can you tell us more about this?

[Eva]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/3250905/Malaysia-bans-women-from-wearing-mens-clothes-and-lesbian-sexual-relations.html

And what does this mean for you, Chet?

Eva

[Chet]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/malaysia/3250905/Malaysia-bans-women-from-wearing-mens-clothes-and-lesbian-sexual-relations.html

And what does this mean for you, Chet?

Eva
It only applies to Muslim women. I'm not Muslim.

That article is dated 24 October 2008. When both issues were first announced, it resulted in a lot of protest. Not sure what has happened since.

[Bat]

It's a good thing, Chet! Sounds like the next step is back to the Burkha for the muslim women...let's hope it is not catching for the general populace!!:eek:

[hoops]

amen Bat amen, leave our Chet alone!
peace
hoops

[DaveM]

Hey, leave women alone in general. Or if you must bug them, don't bug them any more than men.

I expect most of you can imagine what would happen if some nation started ordering guys to wear burkhas or the like. Some folks just need to learn that women deserve the same respect.

[Eva]

It only applies to Muslim women. I'm not Muslim.

That article is dated 24 October 2008. When both issues were first announced, it resulted in a lot of protest. Not sure what has happened since.
But how does the police know if a woman is Muslim if it's not showing by her clothes?

Eva

[Chet]

But how does the police know if a woman is Muslim if it's not showing by her clothes?

Eva
Eva

In Malaysia, race = religion.

If you're Malay, you're a Muslim. If you're Chinese, you're either Buddhist or Christian. If you're Indian, you're either Hindu or Christian.

It's usually easy to determine if a person is Malay, Chinese or Indian - by their skin complexion. Chinese are the fairest, Malays are light brown and Indians are dark brown. Chinese also often have smaller eyes (as in slits :p) and single eyelids.

The names can also help determine if a person is Malay, Chinese or Indian. Chinese, Malay and Indian names are very distinctive.

In terms of dress, the office attire for Muslim women is the baju kurung. Most adult Muslim women wear a head scarf called tudung.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s308/fayrahim/bajukurung.jpg

School uniforms for Muslim girls are in the baju kurung style:
http://tacsin.com/p_school5a.jpg

Compared to school uniforms for non-Muslim girls:
http://tacsin.com/p_school3.jpg

Even when Muslim women wear a corporate suit, they will still wear the head scarf.

So it's easy to know when a Malaysian woman is Muslim.

[Marcia Drummergal]

Very interesting Chet. I admit to ignorance about the Maylasian culture......

Marcia :)

[Chet]

Very interesting Chet. I admit to ignorance about the Maylasian culture......

Marcia :)
Actually, that's just the basics.

Of course, Chinese and Indians can be Muslims, but then they'll be called converts and have to change their names to reflect their converted status. All converts' second names are Abdullah, so if you see a Chinese with a name like May Abdullah, then you know she's a convert.

On the other hand, it's against the law in Malaysia to convert from being a Muslim to another religion. Which means, if you convert to being a Muslim, you can't re-convert back to your old religion.

Besides the Malays, Chinese and Indians, there are inter-marriages, with the children following the father's religion. Yes, it's pretty much a patriarchal society in Malaysia.

Except if the mother is Malay/Muslim, then the father must convert and their children will be Muslims, too.