Catholic Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing denounced columnist Ridhuan Tee for his temerity in suggesting that critics of the dress code seemingly imposed by government departments on women should just as well encourage church- and temple-goers to worship in their underwear .

“This is a needless inference by a man whose harlot’s tongue has led him to utter provocation after provocation,” said the the head of the Catholic Church in the Malacca-Johor Diocese.

“When you consider the number of people who have been hauled up for sedition probes in recent times - several on trivial grounds - and when you put that against what this man has been allowed to get away with, you know he’s got a licence to get under the skin of his targets,” said the Jesuit-trained prelate.

Tan ( photo ) was referring to comments made by the Sinar Harian columnist who rapped critics of the dress code that some government departments and agencies appear to have imposed on women customers and visitors that has stirred public controversy in recent days.

Women wearing skirts and dresses were asked to cover up with sarong and towels before they could obtain service at some departments and agencies they visited.

The ensuing public furore prompted Ridhuan, a lightning rod for racial and religious controversies that have plagued the body politic in recent years, to insinuate that critics of the dress code should just as well encourage temple- and church-goers to worship at these places in their underwear.

“This is an agent provocateur whose avowed aim is to get under the skin of his targets so that debate and discussion of issues affecting race and religion are thereby inflamed,” opined the bishop.

On the public furore over a dress code at some government departments and agencies, Tan observed: “Some religions impose a dress code, others prefer to leave such matters to the volition of individuals.

“Personally, I prefer the latter course because it leaves room for the common exercise of the kind of appraising imagination the normal man and woman are endowed with.”

He elaborated: “If any authority, or the state, makes all the valuations, everything gets frozen at a certain level, no higher than the imagination of the ruling mediocrities.

“That's when you are in trouble because the ones doing the controlling can then slip some poison into their concoctions and a herd-like mentality will not know better.”

Tan said Christians recognise that women have the right to dress as they like but to do it decently.

“The Catholic-Christian Church expects women to dress modestly in accordance with their circumstances and cultures. We do not blindly impose dress rules for all, irrespective of their cultures. Sensitivity to others is an essential part of respect for the other.”

He said matters like dressing are best left to individual volition as coercion would only elicit resentment and grudging conformity.