Let’s wear batik to Parliament tomorrow - speaker
PARLIAMENT | Question time on the culture of wearing batik ended with not only Speaker Mohamad Ariff Mohd Yusof promising to sport a batik tie for tomorrow’s sitting but him also imploring other lawmakers to do the same.
“Tomorrow, let’s pakat-pakat (make a pact) to wear batik lah.
PARLIAMENT | Question time on the culture of wearing batik ended with not only Speaker Mohamad Ariff Mohd Yusof promising to sport a batik tie for tomorrow’s sitting but him also imploring other lawmakers to do the same.
“Tomorrow, let’s pakat-pakat (make a pact) to wear batik lah.
“I will come tomorrow with a batik tie,” Ariff said, eliciting laughter from the parliamentarians present in the House.
This followed a statement by Deputy Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik that the ministry was hoping its suggestion for male lawmakers to wear batik to Parliament on Thursdays would be realised in the near future.
He said this when answering a question by Nurul Izzah Anwar (Harapan - Permatang Pauh).
“The ministry hopes batik-wearing in Parliament will become a reality soon,” Bakhtiar said, citing examples of civil staff wearing batik to work every Thursday since 2008.
He said even though the suggestion for parliamentarians did not obtain the green light from the august House, lawmakers could take their own initiative to wear batik.
“Even though we have yet to receive a favourable response from the Dewan, we (parliamentarians) can still wear, if not batik shirts, then batik ties,” he said, pointing to the batik tie he himself was wearing.
Nurul had asked the deputy minister on his ministry’s efforts to promote the wearing of Malaysian batik to counter the influx of batik from overseas.
The PKR lawmaker called on the ministry to encourage a batik-wearing culture among Malaysians, especially in the Dewan Rakyat.
In her supplementary question, Nurul Izzah pointed to Indonesian president Joko Widodo, whose entire cabinet wore batik during the republic's cabinet lineup announcement recently.
Nurul's proposal was supported by several opposition MPs including Ahmad Maslan (BN - Pontian), Jalaluddin Alias (BN- Jelebu) and Mastura Mohd Yazid (BN-Kuala Kangsar).
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