S Tangerang staff to wear Muslim attire once a week

South Tangerang Mayor Airin Rachmi Diany announced on Wednesday the administration'€™s plan for all Muslim staff to wear Muslim attire every Friday while non-Muslims should continue to wear their civil servant uniforms.

Airin said that all male employees would wear long-sleeve collarless shirts '€”locally known as baju koko '€” and the traditional black cone-shaped hat '€” known as peci '€” while their female counterparts should wear hijab, a loose dress and a long white skirt or loose pants. She believed this policy could have a positive effect on employees'€™ working performance.

Similarly, Tangerang Mayor Wahidin Halim had earlier said staff must wear Muslim clothes in an effort to build the administration'€™s religious atmosphere.

Commenting on this, deputy director of the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) Choirul Anam said that the mayor was seriously mistaken in interpreting Islamic values.

'€œAccelerate physical development by building public facilities, providing better health access and education '€” especially for the poor '€” and implement monitoring to avoid corruption. These
are more Islamic than requiring people to wear Muslim attire,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

He said the mayor'€™s initiative was a clear violation of the constitution and Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi should conduct a thorough evaluation of the new policy.