What Adek in Swimsuits are about hygiene, safety (April 27) fails to understand is that from PAS' Islamic perspectives, moral hygiene and safety is more important than physical hygiene and safety aspects of swimsuits.

From an Islamic perspective, to view a woman as a sex symbol is to lessen her dignity. Islam believes that a woman is to be judged by her moral and virtuous character and actions rather than by her physical attractiveness. This much is even agreed to and shared by modern emancipated women.

The difference is that the modern woman believes that if she has the physical attributes  or she thinks she has them  it is her right to flash or flaunt them in a bikini or whatever.

An Islamist takes a different approach. If physical beauty that is superficial is not a Muslim woman's concern, and her main purpose is inner spiritual beauty, she does not have to flaunt or show her body and charms to secure approval. Indeed she should cover it up. (Such a dress code is I believe called hijab which is synonymous with veil or the purdah ).

The second reason an Islamist advocates the veil is as a protection for women. It is believed that when women display their beauty to everybody, they either degrade themselves by becoming objects of sexual desire or become vulnerable to harassment such as rape from certain undisciplined and lusty men, who look at them as object of gratification for the sexual urge.

Hence, to cover up a woman is, far from humiliating a woman, is actually intended to honour and sanctify her and to force society to hold her in higher esteem, and to bestow upon her respect and a separate and unique identity.

This modesty principle is so important that covering up is compelled in public regardless of whether she is working or doing physical sports and even to the extent of swimming.

Hence while it is often the intention of Western dress to reveal or accentuate the female figure, it is the object of Muslim dress to conceal and cover it entirely, at least in public.

No matter that the use of bikini is more physically hygienic or even safer in swimming, the fact is, it must have occurred to PAS advocates of the bikini ban that the two-piece swimwear is also a pretext under hygiene and safety to flaunt a woman's figure, and it thereby poses a moral hazard.

Though physical hygiene and safety is important, if it, however, conflicts with moral hygiene and safety, the latter should, from an Islamic perspective, always prevail as more important.