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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