Four months after taking over the east coast state of Terengganu, new head Abdul Hadi Awang announced a ruling making it mandatory for Muslim women to wear headscarves in public and their working places.

His officers will be meeting business owners to brief them on the new dress code for Muslim female workers. Non-Muslim employers whose staff are found not adhering to the ruling can be fined. The state has yet to decide on the sum.

Abdul Hadi also ordered all shopping complexes to have separate counters for male and female customers, like in the PAS-run state of Kelantan. Kelantanese women who are seen in public without their headscarves will be fined RM30.

They are also encouraged not to wear cosmetics or paint their nails. Cinemas in Kelantan have separate seating for men and women because officials are concerned that there might be "smooching" when lights go off.

Abdul Hadi says the women in his state "have no problems with the new ruling" and accused the media of playing up the issue. In a telephone interview, he said the ruling is a first step to incorporating "total Islamic teaching in the working mechanism of the state government".

His directive, seen by some Muslims as adopting a hardline, has also reinforced the fear among non-Muslims that PAS is indeed a political party with fundamentalist tendencies.

Islamic scholars themselves feel PAS is articulating a radically different Islamist approach to politics which focuses on traditionalist notions of moral and scriptural authority.

"PAS now takes a very strict and dogmatic line on issues such as gender roles in society," said Prof Dr Farish Noor, who is currently researching the subject of Islamist movements in Malaysia and writing a book on PAS.

PAS chief, Nik Aziz Nik Mat and other leaders have openly stated their conviction that Malay-Muslim women should play more traditional roles in society such as housewives and mothers.

Abdul Hadi, however, says the ruling has nothing to do with dogmatism. "This (ruling) is in line with the Islamic teachings as stipulated in the Quran (holy book). It will also encourage women to be more 'decent' in public," he said.

Sisters in Islam, a Muslim women's group, points out that the Quran does not clearly impose any specific form of dress on women. Chapter 33 Verse 59 of the Quran only states that women must "draw their cloaks close around them when they go abroad".

The group accuses Abdul Hadi's government of imposing laws and regulations to maintain control over women, who are the most disempowered in society.

"Like the Talibans in Afghanistan, Islamic parties that come to power always pick on the regulation and control of women's dress and public life as its first policy decision to prove its Islamic credentials," the group said in a press statement.

PAS swept to power in the general election last November defeating the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition in Terengganu.

Similarly, Women's Aid Organisation (WAO), which provides shelter to battered women, feels that the ruling is indicative of a power relationship between the two sexes.

This is a common trend in Malaysia, said WAO's executive-secretary Ivy Josiah. She strongly feels it is a way to oppress and suppress women even further.

"It is frightening when the state has the right to determine how women should dress. Today, it's about attire. What would it be tomorrow? Would the state determine what women eat, where they go and who they marry?"

While women's groups are crying foul over Abdul Hadi's ruling, there are some Muslim academics who feel his move is imminent as stipulated in the Quran.

"The duty of Muslim countries is to impose the teachings of the holy Quran and Hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad)," says Prof Dr Al'aeddin Kharofa.

An American of Iraqi descent, Kharofa holds a PhD in Islamic jurisprudence from the renowned Al Azhar University in Cairo. He currently teaches at the International Institute of Islamic thought and Civilisation in Kuala Lumpur.

"Muslim women have no right to uncover their heads, chest and legs as men can be enticed by their beauty," Kharofa said, adding that Muslim women do not have the freedom to articulate their religion on their own terms.

He points out that the Prophet has specifically stated (in the Hadith) that Muslim women have the right to uncover only their face and wrists.

Islam, however, also explicitly states there should be no compulsion in religion.

While women's groups have vehemently criticised the ruling, most Terengganu women are conspicuously silence over the ruling. "The people of Terengganu are very conservative and have been covering their heads since reaching puberty," said a woman activist from Terengganu.

Declining to be named, she admitted that most young women are unhappy with the ruling and that PAS might come up with worse rulings such as banning women from wearing cosmetics or mixing freely in public.

Sadly, however, the hue and cry created by women's groups seem to have little impact on PAS and its leadership in Terengganu.

R. MAGESWARI is a member of the malaysiakini team.