DAP has warned the PAS-led Terengganu government that it will take legal action against them if their proposed dress-code on non-Muslim women is enforced.

In a statement today, DAP national deputy chairperson Karpal Singh said that his party will not hesitate to take the Terengganu government to court on the issue if it persists in enforcing the proposed dress code on non-Muslim women in the private sector in the state.

He was responding to the announcement by the Kuala Terengganu Municipal Council to introduce Islamic dress code for women in the state's private sector, which errant employers risk being slapped with a RM250 fine.

Ladang state assemblyman and council chairperson Dr Sulaiman Abdullah had earlier announced that the dress-code enforced during working hours prohibits " sexy " attire which includes short-sleeved blouses, tight-fitting jeans, long skirts with slits, miniskirts as well as figure-hugging or revealing dresses.

Reveal names

Karpal also challenged Trengganu Menteri Besar Abdul Hadi Awang to reveal the names of the non-Muslim religious leaders whom PAS had claimed to have consulted prior to the formulation of the dress-code, adding that it should be the state legal advisor who should have been consulted.

He chided Hadi for enforcing morality issues, saying that the MB has no such right, as it contravenes the Federal Constitution.

Karpal stressed that self-regulation was sufficient to ensure non-Muslim women in the private sector dress with "decency and circumspection".

"PAS may be in the opposition but the DAP will not sit back and watch PAS ride roughshod on the constitutional rights of both Muslims and non-Muslims in the country", he added.

Both the parties have been at loggerheads over PAS' long term aims in setting up an Islamic state when it comes to power. Their dispute over this matter resulted in DAP pulling out of the opposition front in 2001.