[I thought that it might be good to put somebody else's point of view instead for today's post. This is an article (or a letter to the editor) that Rahayu Ramli wrote a few months back, pressing her concern on the issue of tudung-wearing in our society. She emailed me and asked that I help her distribute this article to webmasters of pages that support the reformasi movement (read the article and you'll get the idea what i am trying to say here). i said 'Ok' but then suddenly, she changed her mind and asked that the article not be distributed. she said that the contents of the article would only land her in trouble with the proper authority (or more exactly, her dad)]

THE REALITY OF DONNING A HEADSCARF IN MALAYSIA
By Rahayu Ramli

'I’ve always thought that the best thing about Malaysia is that we, the multiracial population of this country, are able to live side by side, working together, without any major problems. I’ve always thought that because of this, discrimination in Malaysia, be it of race, religion, or gender, is not a big happening, and those who do not get what they want, didn’t work hard enough for it.
Boy, I am damn naïve. This realization swept me less than a month ago when I was looking for a job. I have a lot of free time on my hands before I leave to further my studies overseas in several months. I was looking for something easy, something where I could make some clean money and make friends at the same time. I applied for a job as a host at a fancy restaurant in Suria KLCC. If the requirements posted were any indication, I was well qualified for the job. However, when I was interviewed, I was told outright that they most probably would not hire me as I was wearing a tudung (headscarf). They were afraid that it would scare away customers as they mostly served foreigners. This is the service industry, they said. Strike one.
Silently furious, I left thinking that there were more options left to me. Therefore, I applied for another job as a sales assistant at a clothing store. The staff was friendly, the clothing they sold was not offensive (to me), and the interview went smoothly. They said they would get back to me as soon as they talked it over with their boss. The next day they called me. They said that they liked me and I could work there, but company policy stated that they do not hire people who wear tudung. So? They asked. Could I do anything about that? No, I told them, and hung up. Strike two.
Less than a month later, I came across an article in the New Straits Times, by a Nora Marzuki who had several caustic things to say about people who wear the tudung. For some reason, she, and her friends thought it frivolous; when one friend mentioned that God had given her a sign while she was in hajj and she took to wearing the tudung, another friend said it was probably a sign to not wear the tudung at all. These friends will not, as long as they have hair, wear the tudung. Besides, says Nora Marzuki, she has heard that wearing the tudung will make a person go bald faster. Strike three.
However, I am not out. I am far from out. On behalf of all females that wear the tudung, I am insulted. I am disappointed in the narrow-mindedness and shallowness of certain Malaysians. I am inspired, however, to write this article and thank these people for opening my eyes. Discrimination does happen in this great country of ours, but it is not racial, sexual, or even religious. It is, instead, a physical discrimination, not of skin color or the slant of the eyes or the shape of the nose, but of the fact that one covers her hair: a vanity that will soon fade or fall away. It is a sad thing, and living in world full of stereotypes, it is something that I will simply not accept. This is not coming from a highly educated person, just someone who is seeking fairness. I do not tell other people to wear the tudung; it is something that comes from the heart, not forced.
I myself have been wearing the tudung for only the past two years, and I will be the first to admit that I am not a saint. Far from it, in fact, I am a typical teenager with hopes and dreams, full of mischief and energy. I get into trouble, and occasionally I cause it. Moreover, I wear a tudung, simply because I know and feel that I should. To think that my generation has been brought up in such an open society, one would expect discrimination of the kind I encountered to be rare. However, it is not. This discrimination was not even implied; it was stated outright. What kind of effect do you expect this kind of persecution to have on the young women of my generation? What kind of picture are you expecting to beam to us of people who wear the tudung? Is it that we cannot work? Are we too slow? Are we physically ugly? Do we offend you? Can we not speak English? Can we not talk? Are we stupid? What? Do not say that it is for financial reasons, or that it is just an opinion, or that we just do not fit the bill for your typical teenager and young adult.
This country is a picture of culture and beauty, with so many facets of life and refinement, and yet you have the naïveté to scorn at this small population that makes up part of the country’s image. This ignorance ruins the big picture. Moreover, it is a shame. Do not tell me there are other jobs. This is not about opportunities. It is about respect. It is about respecting others for their abilities, their personality, and for what is inside. It is about not judging a book by its cover. I hate to think that after young people like I have put in so much effort to become a working, effective part of this country, we are, in the end, shunned.
Simply by noting the covering on one’s head, they presume all the stereotypes are true, and turn her away. It is ridiculous situations and small-minded people like these that hold back the future of this country. What they are preaching is not business rational; it is ignorance. In the big picture, in the end, it is their loss. Theirs, and the country’s loss. Discrimination is a lack of respect and trust, and in our fast developing nation, it should not happen. Unfortunately, it does, not only in the way that I have mentioned, but as I have come to understand, in many other ways. I used to think that I could count on my elders to make sure that everyone, my generation and theirs, had a fair chance at everything that is good in life. That the future for people like myself would be guaranteed. That in the end, I would not have to fight a fight like this, because our world is a fair place. However, alas, it is not.
Sadly, the people who make these policies and state these implications and write these articles are all presumably older and more mature than me. Nevertheless, when it comes to respect - for religion, for women, and for the future - it seems that they do not have much more wisdom than I do.