Kelantan Menteri Besar Nik Aziz's recent speech, which advocate religious students to wear ' jubah ' (robe), has attracted criticisms from several Umno big guns - Rafidah Aziz, Dr Abd Hamid Othman, Abd Hamid Zainal Abidin, Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah, Mustapa Mohamed and Adnan Yaakob, among others.

Even the Federal Territory mufti, Prof Dr Mohamad Yusoff Hussain, did want to be left out in the brouhaha. This has given prominence (albeit an unwarranted one) to Nik Aziz's little advice given before a small group of religious school students. The interpretation made of Nik Aziz's advice has gone beyond its intended audience, context and proportion.

I personally do not find anything wrong with Nik Aziz's advice to these religious school students. It does not go against Islamic teaching, and certainly does not offend anybody else in this country, except perhaps some paranoid Umno politicians. His argument that a person who wears ' jubah ' will be able to fend-off ' maksiat '(vice) does sound logical to my mind, particularly among Muslims in this country.

As a 50 year-old man (and not wearing ' jubah '), I have yet to see a man with his 'jubah' enters a 4-digit gaming outlets although I frequently witnessed Muslim patronising this type of gaming outlets. I have also not heard of these 'strangely-dressed men' enjoying themselves in karaoke joints, bars, and nightclubs. When this type of attire is found in these places, it always means that the outlets or joints are being raided by the religious authorities. Doesn't Nik Aziz's argument sound simple and workable?

Even if this sort of advice is workable in Malaysia only (not in places like Beirut or Cairo), it is a good enough advice. After all, Nik Aziz made this statement before a small group of religious school students and not in a mixed audience or at an international forum. It is Dr Abd Hamid Othman and Abd Hamid Zainal Abidin who tried to 'internationalise' the issue. Their assertion that Nik Aziz's advice does not work in Arab countries is flawed and completely irrelevant.

Both these two Umno politicians' arguments that a person's piety has nothing to do with his attire is too simplistic, to say the least. If this is true, why is it that they say nothing about the Johor state government's circular banning civil servants from wearing ' jubah ' to office? Can't the same arguments against Nik Aziz - that one's attire does not reflect a person's piety - be used to revoke the state government's undemocratic circular?

The Federal Territory mufti's remarks are even more mind-boggling. He said such a matter (about wearing ' jubah ') should be left to ' ustaz kampung ' (village cleric) to resolve. Why didn't he answer forthrightly? Is it because a mufti in Malaysia is not allowed to give a 'fatwa' unless requested by the state government? Or is it because he knew the answer too well, but has chosen to be evasive just to be on the safe side.

Indeed, if you can ask the ' ustaz kampung ' about the matter, I believe the answer will be resoundingly in favour of Nik Aziz! And for a mufti to mischievously ridiculed a fellow Muslim, Nik Aziz - I do not wish to repeat the words chosen by the mufti, but they are clearly offensive - does not speak well for his office.