Dear IIUM, wearing a 'tudung' is against my religion.

Have a look at Lim Kit Siang's blog regarding the issue of dress codes for IIUM's (International Islamic University Malaysia) convocation ceremony. Essentially, a very disgruntled parent wrote in complaining that non-Muslim female undergraduates were formally required to wear head scarfs (ubiquitously known as 'tudung') to the university's graduation convocation.

This is a screenshot of IIUM's webpage regarding the dresscode.

In particular, read notes (i) & (iii):

i. Covering of 'Aurah' (including head and neck) applies to Muslim as well as Non-Muslim females. Avoid wearing skirts with slits.

iii. 'Tudung' / headcover will be provided by the University.

If you read some of the pro-IIUM comments to this post on Lim Kit Siang's blog, you'd find that it basically centers around the argument that the university is entitled to to enforce dress codes, notwithstanding the fact that it is actually based entirely on religious attire.

OK, so the contention is that universities have the right to enforce dress codes on their students.

Fine, then how about the female Muslim students in France who refused to remove their head coverings in accordance with French educational dress code?

Wasn't it their argument that the dress code should not apply to them since it conflicts with their religious convictions? Didn't many Malaysian Muslim organisations, including IIUM faculty and students, support that argument?

So, what if we were to apply this argument to the IIUM convocation situation?

Isn't it reasonable that wearing a piece of decidedly Muslim religious attire (especially for the expressly stated purpose of conforming with Muslim religious norms), would be in deep conflict with the religious convictions of Christian, Buddhist, Hindu (dan lain-lain) students?

After all, Muslims are NOT the only people who believe that there can only be ONE god (ie. theirs), and any subservience / allegiance / acknowledgement of ANOTHER god is a great and terrible sin.

Therefore I put it to you that Non-Muslim IIUM students should be allowed to ignore IIUM's convocation dress code - for the same reasons that female Muslim students in France ignored the French educational dress code. To comply would be against their religion(s)!

And I would expect all Muslims individuals and organisations who supported those female Muslim students in France, to similarly support the female Non-Muslim students in IIUM. Otherwise, can you spell H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E?