From Indonesia Corespondent Rezwan…
A man should be judged by his deeds and not on his appearance – Al Quran
Migrant laborers from South Asia have played a great role in the transformation of Middle Eastern Gulf countries like UAE, Qatar and Bahrain. Most of construction work that takes place there consists of physical labor by people of this region, all of whom are paid only a few dollars a day for their efforts. Further still, they clean up the garbage, build the roads, live in cramped quarters many times hard to imagine, work in every kind of shop there is, and some have even been recruited by the police for community service.
In general, however, these people are looked down upon as miskins (beggars) and the bottom place of society, mainly because they’re poor. Not satisfied, people have found another way to example single out and dishonor them.
Look at the pictures below. Do you see any indecency in the photgraphs? On the left is he lungi, traditional south Asian clothing for men. On the right, a thobe, kandora or dishdash, traditional wear for Arab Gulf men. Most will look at the two pictures and see no indeceny. In fact very few will see little difference at all between the two, but believe it or not, the Sharjah Police are cracking down on men wearing the lungi (on the left) in public.
An Asian man was arrested and interrogated by police patrols in Sharjah, UAE (Dubai’s conservative brother emirate) a few days ago for wearing a lungi. The man later said police told him lungis cannot be worn in public.
Sharjah Police maintain that indecent and revealing clothes are not allowed in public. “The decency law was implemented in Sharjah ten years ago,” an officer said.
He said people were expected to wear decent clothes in public, but did not explain if there was a ban on wearing the lungi in public.
Here is what an Arab male quoted in the Gulf News has to say about the Lungi:
“The Lungi is not indecent dress. when anybody lift the lungi above the thigh then it is indecent. Even kandoora can be lifted. if police found any one lifting lungi then they can take actions, but generally when anybody wear lungi in decent manner then it is wrong to object that.”
You will see a lot of illogical comments in this particular Gulf News article about the lungi being indecent and how it should be banned. It may be a poor man’s attire and be considered informal, but who decides fashion? Is Sharjah paying these laborers decent enough salaries so they can afford to the fancy thobes locals wear? What would these people say when Sharjah bans tight jeans because one can see the curves? It may be interpreted as indecent, although it’s not revealing. There is already a crackdown on jeans in Iran.
There are certain rules about attire in every society. In Bangladesh, there are places where you need formal dress and cannot enter with a lungi. With that said, nobody should have the audacity to say that the lungi should be banned from all public places.
Illogical moral policing will not establish a good example of advancement of society. It is pure racism, this time in a new bottle.
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They treat these people who work in the Gulf like little more than animals. They are often jammed into filthy rooms, 20 at a time, with on bathroom, are paid 200 – 3000 dollars a month and worked like slaves. Their employers confiscate their passports upon arrival in the country and they are often go unpaid. Its a shame.
The Gulf is a modern day slavery center. Yes they are paid, but they are paid next to nothing and like the above comment states, treated like animals. There are no labbor laws, no nothing, and what I find most sickening is that these guys ae paid so little, but so often dont get paif on time. Its common for them to get paid every 3 or 4 months. Whenever the employers fills like it.
Its the asshole of the world, dressed up with towers and 5 star hotels.
Seriously?? How can anyone look at the two pictures provided and sayu there’s any real difference. Its just a bunch of guys in dresses. Is one dress is nicer than the other? I dont know, but the law they are marking is for harassment and is bullshit only. That is clear to any human being with a sense of reason.
I believe no one has the right to tell people what to wear. All these stupid laws in some counties, whether it France Burqa controversy or stories like this in the Gulf, are all nonsense. This is part of people’s freedom; no one has the right to tell anyone what to wear as long as what they are wearing in not indecent. But this is just another political way of controlling people, a country’s leadership playing by their own rules and expecting to be followed blindly, not caring about anything , and most of the time they never even follow their own rules they issued. These kind of laws are usually only followed by the poor because they are the most helpless.