The tudung (or hijab) is the headscarf most Muslim women wear. Despite being a normal piece of religions wear (like a nun’s habit or a monk’s robe), the tudung has somehow been prohibited for nurses to wear.
It’s a weird dichotomy; tudungs are permitted pretty much everywhere else. The President wears one but it’s a no-no for government uniformed jobs. Weirdly, Sikh turbans (also a religious wear) are allowed…which is why there’s such a hot debate on why tudungs aren’t.
Well…news just broke that tudungs might be OK for nurses in the future. K Shanmugam (our Minister for Home Affairs) had this to say.
Nothing definite or concrete but it looks like nurses hoping to wear the tudung at work will have a positive result from the discussions.
…but then again, they might not. Nobody knows at the moment.
That’s not stopping online speculation though.
Most Netizens are quick to applaud the decision…
Most see the issue as non-existent. After all, the tudung is just a piece of clothing. Why all the fuss? Singapore respects all religions and wearing a tudung shouldn’t be hampering a female nurse at her job at all.
However, there’s also a rather vocal opposition to allow it.
Those against it argue that it’s against the nation’s best interest and what Singapore stands for. Some think it defeats the purpose of having a uniform, some think it’ll open the floodgates for more Muslim requests that aren’t palatable to other races.
After all, if tudungs are allowed for nurses, they argue that it’ll just lead to more exceptions for Muslims, like tudungs in schools and other government uniformed agencies.
In fact, even those who seem to be on the fence are voicing that.
I admit, I’m particularly interested in knowing this too…but as the tudung issue for nurses isn’t resolved yet, that’s definitely an issue for another time.
While most are content to leave one comment to show their displeasure, one commenter went up on a soapbox rant, with three different posts (a couple of them on MULTIPLE pages I visited to research this).
Phew…that’s a wall of text to wade through huh? But hey, everybody’s entitled to their opinion.
There’s one thing that really surprised me though…a Muslim that is against the motion.
I checked, it’s not a joke account. Azrin Amin is a real person, is a Muslim (judging from the name and posts on the page) and is against the proposal.
Why against it? I have no idea and Azrin doesn’t post any other comments that elaborate on this.
One thing is clear though; the majority of Netizens do support the motion. It’s not just the Muslims either, most Netizens from other religions and races are ok with it too. While there is a vocal minority, their concerns (especially the valid ones) should hopefully be addressed when the matter is address by the government in the near future.
After all, what good is being allowed to wear the tudung if it’s divisive for the country?
Incredibly, there is also a significant portion of Netizens that don’t care about the motion, rather they care about the circumstances surrounding Minister Shanmugam’s mention of the alleged closed door meeting held last year.
A couple see this as a win for the Workers Party, as they see the differing messages from Ministers Masagos and Shanmugam as a sign that the ruling party is flip flopping on the issue after it became a point of contention online.
Whether that line of thinking is correct or not, I’m not going to touch on.
What I will touch on is this question posed by Lawrence Ang.
Oh wait…looks like Zach Aufa’s beaten me to it.
My wife would kill me too if I tried to tow her.