PETALING JAYA: Perodua has come forward to say it does not impose a dress code on its customers.

It issued the statement and an apology on its Facebook page following public uproar over a notice recorded at its Kuantan service centre, which stipulated that male visitors to the premises must wear a long sleeve shirt, necktie and long pants.

They are also not allowed to wear singlets, shorts and torn jeans.

Meanwhile, female customers were required to dress in "office wear" and not allowed to wear skirts and shorts with hemlines above the knee level and sleeveless dresses.

The dress code baffled a number of people who questioned the basis of such an incredulous requirement from a budget car maker.

Perodua's brief statement indicated the attempt to impose the dress code was restricted to its Kuantan outlet.

While denying that it had ever introduced such dress code requirements on customers, the company said it would investigate the matter and ensure such an incident does not recur.



The Perodua kerfuffle is not the first of its kind in Malaysia. In the larger context, news reports have surfaced sporadically of various attempts by some government authorities to impose a dress code on women before they are allowed to enter public buildings or provided services.

Last month, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Ramkarpal Singh said the government would look into internal regulations to address dress code issues for visitors to government departments.

"The government should also look into ways to regulate dress codes to be uniform across the board in order to avoid discrepancies in different states."

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