A CIVIL society group has urged for the policy banning hotel workers from wearing the hijab, or headscarf, to be changed, saying it clearly discriminates against women on religious grounds.

In a statement today, the Malaysian Alliance of Civil Society Organisations, in the Universal Periodic Review Process, urged the Tourism and Culture and Women, Family and Community Development Ministries, and other relevant authorities to take action.

“While we agree that employers have the right to impose a dress code on their employees – and, to a certain extent, even restrict certain forms of non-integral religious expressions if they cause undue hardship to the employer, staff members or for security reasons –  such restrictions, however, must only be imposed if they are absolutely necessary,” the group’s chairperson, Azril Mohd Amin, said today. 

“The wearing of the hijab by Muslim staff certainly does not fall under any of those categories that warrant such restriction.”

The Malaysian Labour Centre of the Union Network International (Uni-MLC) recently said hotel employees had complained about discrimination against Muslim workers, who were told to remove their headscarves. 

Yesterday, the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) president Cheah Swee Hee said its policy of prohibiting frontline staff from wearing the hijab was in keeping with international practice and not meant to be discriminatory.

In response, PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar said Putrajaya should revoke the licence of hotels that discriminate against Muslim women who don the hijab from working frontline jobs in the industry.

“Of course, any international traveller will know that Cheah Swee Hee’s claim is inaccurate,” said Azril, adding there were examples of hotels around the world and in Malaysia that do not do not impose restrictions against religiously mandated attire for their employees.

“In short, there is no international SOP banning the hijab; and yes, it is simply discriminatory. What MAH must understand is that discrimination does not work to its advantage in a capitalist marketplace.

“There is no data to suggest that hotel staff wearing a hijab negatively impacts customer satisfaction, but forcing staff to refrain from wearing the hijab, on the other hand, unnecessarily limits the pool of qualified and potentially productive workers available for such jobs, as they will shy away from pursuing work at hotels that restrict their personal religious expression. 

Azril said occupancy rates for hotels in Malaysia had declined significantly in the 10 years since MAH implemented the ban on wearing the hijab, and that “at least part of the explanation for this must be due to customer dissatisfaction with the quality of service”.

“The hospitality industry is notorious for the high turnover rate of its workforce, and instead of welcoming all interested jobseekers, MAH is closing its doors on thousands of young Muslim women from pursuing hospitality careers – women who could potentially turn the declining statistics around –  simply because they insist on imposing a ban on the hijab,” Azril said.

“This policy is clearly a matter of personal prejudice and cultural intolerance. It is not a policy based on sound business practice, nor is it made in compliance with the law. As such, it can be changed, and it should be changed.

“Malaysia is a country with rich diversity and religious expression is not something we prohibit.

“When you ban one group’s benign religious expression, it creates animosity, which is anathema to everything the hospitality industry strives to provide.” – November 12, 2017.