TAN Sri Rafidah Aziz has slammed those who criticised Farah Ann Abdul Hadi’s attire, asking them if they were watching the sport or the national gymnast’s body shape and costume.
Writing in her column in Utusan Malaysia, the outspoken former minister said these critics should know how to identify matters that are subjective in nature and not be too hasty in imposing their personal beliefs on others. “The question is – were these people watching sport events just to stare at body shapes and dressing and not to watch the athletes’ performance?” the Umno veteran asked.
These people, said Rafidah, have a choice – whether or not to watch sport events which in their personal opinion are indecent and because of the athletes’ dressing.
The former Wanita Umno leader was weighing in on the uproar over SEA Games gold medallist Farah Ann’s games attire that some critics claimed showed the “shape of her vagina”.
Several Facebook users had last week slammed the 21-year-old gymnast on Buletin TV3’s Facebook page after it uploaded a photograph of her in the gymnastics outfit, along with a caption that announced her winning gold in floor exercise in artistic gymnastics. Farah Ann has since received an outpouring of support from Malaysians who pointed out that the athlete should be celebrated for her performance at the games, which not only saw her take home gold, but three bronze medals and a silver in other individual events.
Rafidah said Malaysians should be rational and help their country achieve excellence instead of focusing their priorities on imposing their personal morals on others.
The former minister also cited as example the recent uproar over a woman’s complaint on social media that she was made to don a sarong by Road Transport Department (RTD) officials after she turned up in a skirt deemed indecent according to the agency’s dress code.
“The question is – since when are departments and organisations the public’s personal stylists?” Rafidah asked.
Instead, she said such departments should have customer charters that focus on other more pressing matters such as offering good and efficient service to the public.
The term “civil servant”, she pointed out, ultimately translates to “serving the public”. “It does not mean they are the public’s dress stylist or the public’s boss,” Rafidah said.
> Berita Harian reported about a housewife who has a very rare “Indian B” bloodtype.
The 28-year-old S. Tatchana from Klebang, Malacca, said she found out about her rare blood type while undergoing treatment for the birth of her second child at the Ipoh General Hospital last year.
Doctors, she said, had even asked her permission to get samples of her blood to enable them to carry out a study on it.
Tatchana had donated blood twice, once last year and the second time in February earlier this year and her blood was confirmed to be disease-free.
Found in translation is compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
The Star Online
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