A sick act to ogle nurses’ outfits, ignoring their plight

FMT:

A sick act to ogle nurses’ outfits, ignoring their plight

The complaint by PAS MP Wan Razali Wan Nor about nursing uniforms makes one wonder why the welfare of nurses isn’t more on his mind.





When has a sick man in a hospital or their visiting relatives and friends ever actually given a lecherous look at one of our heroic nurses dressed in trousers and long-sleeved tops – an outfit which only a certain PAS member, Wan Razali Wan Nor, seems to think is tight-fitting.

The Kuantan MP’s complaints in Parliament last week, that the uniforms “revealed their shapes” and were not shariah-compliant, made me wonder if he would advocate that Muslim nurses wear a jubah and purdah instead.

I also question what is behind his obsession with nurses when women in the armed forces, police and the like also wear uniforms similar in fit.

Many decades ago, nurses started their career wearing dresses. That has now been replaced by shirts and trousers which together cover nearly every centimetre of their bodies. Muslim nurses must wear long-sleeved tops which fall below the buttocks as a requirement, but non-Muslims can opt for shorter sleeves if they prefer.

Yet, this MP suggests that there are men who fetishise them as little more than sex objects.


Noble calling, but a 3D job

Many of us have spouses, sisters or other women in our life who have taken up this challenging but noble profession. It’s a huge sacrifice indeed, with wages hardly commensurate with the trying, tiring and often gory tasks they do every day.

Nursing would definitely meet the criteria to be called a “3-D job” – it’s difficult, dirty and dangerous – although it is not often thought of as such. The 3D label is normally reserved for jobs like street cleaner, rubbish collector or factory worker.

Despite all that nurses have to go through, this MP has the audacity to raise questions about their attire.

Florence Nightingale must have turned in her grave.

When I was once warded in hospital, my heart ached when I saw the nurses carrying out tasks that many children would not do even for their parents. They cleaned up after one patient accidentally defecated and changed the patient’s clothes, all the while being surrounded by moans and groans of pain from other patients.

And I thought to myself: “All this for a mere RM2,000-plus monthly starting salary? Aren’t they all grossly underpaid compared to those who recline in the safety of their air-conditioned offices?”

So, it’s shocking that the MP picked on their uniform instead of championing their cause. The silence from his Perikatan Nasional (PN) comrades in PAS and Bersatu despite the resultant social media backlash speaks volumes about what they think of their colleague’s statement.


Nurses say they are aghast

Having spoken to the nurses I know since the issue went viral, many – including Muslims – were aghast with his claim. They could not believe that a legislator sexualised their decades-old attire instead of championing their welfare.

One matron in Kuala Lumpur, who asked not to be named, said she had suddenly become very self-conscious after the MP’s statement, now wondering if every male patient, visitor or even colleague was ogling her.

“Although it has become a bit of a joke with the staff, many of them have admitted to now being a little worried of roving eyes. Honestly, it has become an unnecessary distraction for us. Only those who look at nurses with sex on their mind are capable of raising such issues,” she said.

On the topic of how tight their clothes are, one retired nurse, who also requested anonymity, explained that it was common for women to gain weight as they get older and grapple with the rigours of the job, and that the burden was on them to unpick and restitch their own uniforms. I wonder if Razali knows that.

The authorities have said in the past that plenty of thought and feedback, including input from clerics, went into designing the outfits. It wasn’t an overnight decision and is hardly new, made during Barisan Nasional’s reign.

If he wants answers, perhaps Razali should turn to the likes of Muhyiddin Yassin, Annuar Musa and Shahidan Kassim, PN leaders who were senior members of Umno when the uniform was agreed upon all those years ago.

It’s also ironic that while PAS had questioned the uniform worn by stewardesses employed by the government-owned Malaysia Airlines several times in the past, nothing was done about the design when the party was in the government from 2020 to 2022.