YOURSAY ‘How 'exposed' can one be from not buttoning that one button?’
Principal: Girl didn't wear baju kurung decently
Malaccan: If there is any communication problem, it would be between the principal and his teacher who blocked the student from entering the school and attending classes.
It is inconceivable that a directive to button up can be misunderstood to one prohibiting the baju kurung to a non-Muslim. It must be how it was explained.
And since when is the baju kurung associated a Muslim dress? It is a Malay in origin and not Islamic.
Tholu: The school principal's defence is an insult even to a parent of unimposing intelligence. He should acknowledge that the teacher concerned was either a thick person or exhibiting some form of dislike towards the girl concerned.
I am sure the student was not defiant to the extent of deliberately dress the way one should not and insist on showing her cleavage. Why couldn't the teacher just guide her on how to wear the baju kurung correctly?
Even with studies, if a student is not doing things right, a teacher's responsibility is to coach the student to do it correctly rather than to send her back home for her mistakes. What kind of an irresponsible and idiotic teacher would one be to do that?
Joker: How many buttons does a baju kurung have? How 'exposed' can one be from not buttoning that one button?
I am more concerned with how some baju kurung’s material are too sheer. Anyway, if I have a school-going daughter, I would prefer her to wear the pinafore uniform.
NuckinFuts: Indeed, just how many buttons are there on the baju kurung to "protect the decency of the students and for their own safety"? Locking the girl out of the school and leaving her in the streets is child abuse.
Sali Tambap: Baju kurung, pinafore, what difference does it makes, if the issue is decency? There is no need even to mention the baju kurung or whether it is a national dress or not.
Any baju, for that matter school uniform, if not worn decently, the teacher concerned can always tell the student to button up.
Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Seri Mutiara principal Mohd Amir Abdul Ghani's explanation is rather lame, and appeared to be more of an excuse of what actually happened and therefore less than honest.
Hmmmmmmmm: I thought that I read somewhere that the student was asked what race she belonged to before the teacher decided that she was not allowed to wear the baju kurung?
In none of the reports so far has the issue of decency come up at all. And by the way, are there any buttons on a baju kurung?
Abasir: Miscommunication, misquoted, misunderstood, mistaken, misrepresented, misinterpreted ... the usual litany of excuses by bumbling, fumbling pompous fools in three-piece suits.
Fairplayer: Most baju kurungs have only a hole big enough for the head to go through and usually there is no button at all. How indecent can that get?
The principal and teachers could have easily supplied the girl with some safety pins if her baju kurung was really improper, instead of sending her out of the school.
If I were the principal/teacher, I would keep the girl in my office and call the parents up. In that way, the child would be kept safe and not be left unprotected on the street.
From Penang: The principal and teachers need to be smart to know that bullying students is not as easy as the past. People are more educated and know their rights.
MinahBulat: Mohamad Amir is lying big time. Look at the baju kurung - from the neck down, there at most four or five buttons. The idea is to allow the wearer head to slip in.
Assuming two or let say three buttons are not done, tell me how indecent can this 15-year-old be? Let us assume that it is the school regulations to have all buttons fastened, why can’t the prefect tell the girl so?
Why must the teacher keep her out of the school for two hours? Is this safe for this girl to be outside the school compound? I am sure this is a racist teacher who is showing her powers and dislike for the girl.
Pisasu 7: Leaving the girl out of school on the street for more than two hours is more dangerous than ‘one button less’ baju kurung.
Commentable: Come on, Mohd Amir, give us a break. Just look at the baju kurung uniform and tell us how many ways it can be worn in order to "protect the decency of the student".
No, don't be smart, just look at the uniform again and count how many buttons that it has got? Now tell us how does one wear a baju kurung indecently? If the school wants to play the race and religion card, just admit it.
And please say sorry and that you won't do it anymore. It would be the most gracious thing to do, and with that the matter will blow over even before you can say "tea time in the canteen".
Vijay47: Indecent? Mohd Amir, are you saying that the student was asked to "button up all the way" and she refused and instead complained to her guardians?
Curiouser and curiouser. Well, at least she was not asked to have her recess in the toilet.
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