M’sian Woman Not Allowed To Renew Passport As Her 3/4 Pants Were ‘Inappropriate’

Dress codes can be a pain.

As a jeans and shorts guy myself, I definitely can respect my other suit-and-blazer brothers out there.

Especially in this crazy weather. You guys must be burning or something.

Sometimes though, dress codes can be mad vague.

Imagine going out with a dress code of ‘casual but decent looking’, only to find everyone in at least jeans while you’re the one clown in bermudas?

Needless to say, I was extremely embarrassed. 

But things like these do happen. Just ask this Malaysian hawker who was denied a passport renewal for ‘inappropriate attire.”

Grey Area 

On the morning of 4 September, a 47-year-old hawker was banned from entering the Teluk Intan Immigration office as her pants were deemed too indecent.

It was around 9.50am when she tried to get her passport renewed. She was stopped at the entrance by security guards who deemed her attire inappropriate.

I’m going to show a picture, and I’ll let you readers be the judge of this. Is this really indecent though?

Okay, so maybe it isn’t the height of formality or anything. Still, I think it’s okay enough to go and just get her dang passport renewed.

She tried to reason with them, as she did not know that her attire was unsuitable.

If I were in her shoes, I’d be super unsure as well! I mean, look at the rules stated below.

If you look at it from one perspective, the auntie didn’t have many flaws in her dressing. She wore a sleeved shirt, had no shorts or skirt that was above knee level.

Footwear is…debatable, so no comment on that, but the rest looks fine. She just doesn’t dress like an office lady. 

The officers couldn’t do much with all the CCTVs around, and the auntie lived more than half an hour away, so going home was out of the question too.

Having not much choice, she complied to the officer’s request of buying a pair of long pants just to get it over with.

Unsatisfied Auntie

While she might have done everything she needed, the auntie wasn’t satisfied at all.

She made a complaint with the Teluk Intan Municipal Council chairman, Kong Sun Chin, and said that the government should give clear instructions on the dress code. This was to also avoid further confusion for others in the future.

Well, can’t say I blame her though.

To be fair, sometimes it’s hard to have a guideline that covers every possible outcome. Sometimes it’s better to just double-check something before going ahead.

Or you can be kiasu like me, bring a spare set of clothing.