I refer to Ummu Ainul's letter No bikini please, were Muslims that Muslims who shun beach wear should be allowed to wear pants and tee-shirts in swimming pools because the latter is more culturally appropriate.

I do not know where Ummu has lived her life thus far. She may not be Malay nor have lived in Malay villages.

Malay women in kampung are often clad only in their colourful sarongs tied above the breast. This is known as berkemban (sarong-clad). When I went holidaying in the East Coast in the 1970s, rural women still don the sarongs and bathe in them as well. There was public bathing by the village wells with women and children and at the beach.

Younger Malay women in swimsuits at the beach often bring a sarong as well to get into once they are out of the water.

In semi-rural areas or urban kampung, we had public stand-pipes where Malay women bathe in their sarongs as well. After bathing, she will change into a dry sarong there. It was a communal bath with women and children. The men will wait their turn once the women get home. Somehow, everyone knows the routine.

Berkemban is the culture of the Malays until some Malays, perhaps learning Islam in faraway lands, came home to teach Malays to cover their shame.

The Malays who have been wearing sarongs in the berkemban style are now told they they are jahil (ignorant).

Our bodies were never a problem before.