Monday 22 July 2013

The Controversial 'Abaya'

Since a couple of months back coming to office on Sundays proved to be a dilemma for a number of ladies (yours truly included) when 'Abaya' was introduced by the management as a 'corporate uniform' to be worn on Sundays.  Its not 'Monday Blues' for us but its  'Stressful Sundays' winning hands down! 

Apa itu maksud 'Abaya'? ....this is what I found in the wikipedia..

The abaya "cloak" (colloquially and more commonly, Arabic: عبايةʿabāyah , especially in Literary Arabic: عباءة ʿabāʾah ; plural عبايات ʿabāyāt , عباءات ʿabāʾāt ), sometimes also called an aba, is a simple, loose over-garment, essentially a robe-like dress, worn by some women in parts of the Muslim world including in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.[1] Traditional abayat are black and may be either a large square of fabric draped from the shoulders or head or a long caftan. The abaya covers the whole body except the face, feet, and hands. It can be worn with the niqāb, a face veil covering all but the eyes. Some women choose to wear long black gloves, so their hands are covered as well.
The Indonesian and Malaysian women's traditional dress kebaya gets its name from the abaya (can anyone testify  this fact?)

The 'abayas' the ladies in the pictures below are wearing does not qualify the meaning of an 'abaya' which should be a simple, loose over-garment, essentially a robe-like dress such as this?  
Cedok dari Google
 and not like below?




sorry had to put up these pictures...untuk memperkuatkan lagi alasan kenapa 'abaya' ini amat-amat tidak sesuai sebagai 'baju korporat' untuk kita kalian.  So tidak peliklah kalau ada staf yang secara sukarela ambil cuti pada tiap hari Ahad..just to avoid wearing this piece of cloth.  It is just sad that I don't have that many off days till the end of the year and have to endure the pain (malu) wearing this 'abaya'. I am telling you on Sundays I would just get into the car and hopped onto the office stairs, sit in my cubicle, hope and pray I don't have to do lots of walking anywhere till the time to punch out!  I am no attention seeker and so do the other ladies who find it offensive wearing this abaya  Lainlah kan kalau body you tu mampu mengalahkan Miss Universe and don't have bulges here and there...

Matlamat yang pakaian ini mampu menutup aurat menyimpang jauh kerana rekabentuknya yang kembang di bawah dan ketat di atas dan amat tidak sesuai untuk dipakai oleh mereka yang berumur 40an dan 50an. 

Well, we can only protest and voice our disappointment over this ruling and really hope the admin will take serious notice and let us go back to wearing our baju kurung which is a lot more comfortable....just saying!

14 comments:

IndaMarya said...

my dear, yes looking at the abaya shown I can undrstand yr dilemma.org Perlis kata you cn see the mangkuk tingkat wearing this..it looks bad, kalau jubah it should be big and straight from the armpit down, no curving in at the waist..Yes I always see elder women wearing this, kain lycra lagi, aduh nmpak ugly sebab nmpak lemak berlipat2.unless u hide it wearing a big long tudung .
kalau I pun msti rasa frust giler pkai ni.although tk da mgkuk tingkat tapi dah ada little folds here and there. .he he.for those pencil-like figure ' tk pa la kan?..I suggest you get an overcoat, just to cover the back.but dnt buy yg brlambak di pasaran tu, just cari kain cotton and pi tempah tailor.sure selamat keadaan.
happy abaya day next Sunday.saja to pull yr leg.ha ha.

naniasda said...

Dear IM,
memang nampak 'mangkuk tingkat' betul bila i pakai benda..hikhik, but then that's a good suggestion of wearing an overcoat over it, even for a short while since i will be opting for early retirement in Jan '14. IM..kenapa tak update your blog, tak de cerita ke posa posa ni, rindu nak baca your coretan yang sometimes lucu..hehe. I pun dah rasa malas nak update anything here, nothing interesting nak record. Anyway thank you for visiting..have a nice day and Selamat Berpuasa :)

Lee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lee said...

Hi Naniasda, this coming to you from Canada....
I was at IndaMarya's blog, nak check out noticed your callsign and busybody over.

I cannot imagine why management decided to enforce that Abaya on Sundays? I'm guessing the 'management' must be men? Wonder from which planet they from?

Where I am about 2 years ago some Muslim men....who believe it or not originally were refugees from the Middle East settled in Toronto...then these men, couple of so called Imams wanted the Canadian government to have Sharia law for all Musim women here.

You can imagine how the Muslim women disini hantam balek via the press and vocally on radio and TV. Asking these men to go back where they came from or why in the first place they chabut to Canada?
Some of the women asked these men, whats next? Stoning, whipping'?
The government put its foot down, 'this is Canada, everyone has to observe our laws. Habis cherita, ha ha.
You have a nice day and simpan satu lagu dalam hati.
Lee.
ps, sorry I deleted previous comment...silap spelling. Bahasa saya sebelum Merdeka, ha ha.

naniasda said...

Hi Uncle Lee,
What a surprise indeed having you dropping a comment here, I know you the famous blogger from Canada and I did visit your blog several times tapi banyak gambar perempuan sexylah di situ hahaha..

Well yes you guessed it right of course the management are men. Incidentally a few of the women staff here are wearing abayas most of the time but these lasses are all slim and look pretty good in them and they (the mgmt) must be thinking that its a good idea to make into a corporate uniform for all the ladies to wear on sundays. Our corporate uniform is often changed after a few years to keep up with the trend, unfortunately the trend now is towards wearing abayas yang bukan semua wanita boleh nampak cantik bila pakai baju tu.

Pasal imam yang hendak enforce sharia law di Canada tu fits this malay proverb...masuk kandang kambing mengebek, masuk kandang kerbau menguak..hope you get my meaning Uncle Lee and you too have a nice day and simpan banyak lagu dalam hati and thank you again for dropping by here :)


Al-Manar said...

Sometimes we cannot see what goes behind the management's mind. I feel sorry for those who have to be made to accept what they do not see the reason behind a direction. During my younger days I was required to put on a tie, a jacket was only when I could not stand the aircon or the winter weather. Everyone accepted that. Never mind, just do it. Before leaving the office premises change into hot pants!

Have a good Hari Raya in your abaya or kebaya, whatever.

naniasda said...

Dear Pakcik Al-Manar,
Since writing this piece more than a week ago the management has decided to do away with the abaya and let us wear our traditional baju kurung again on Sundays while they start to put on their thinking caps on what is more suitable for us to wear...am glad for this decision. Have a good Hari Raya too Pakcik and thanks for coming here :)

Lee said...

Hi Naniasada
Saya mengambil peluang ini untuk mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri kepada semua rakan saya di Malaysia dan di mana jua anda bearada. Selamat sejahtera kepada anda sekeluarga.
Semadikan satu lagu dalam hati mu dan semoga sentiasa ceria.
Teman mu dari Canada.
Lee.

naniasda said...

Hi Uncle Lee,
Terima kasih di atas ucapan Selamat Hari Raya...dan sama-samalah kita sentiasa semadikan lagu-lagu dalam hati :)

Teh Ani said...

Management tu lelaki kan? Nape ya, teruk sgt jiwa hg tak tahan. hg suruh karyawan wanita dibungkus begitu...tu laa Melayu nk islamik bkn erti kena jadi arab. Dah pernah bergaul dgn orgbArab. Saya dah mada belajar ke UK. Jauh bumi dari langit baik org melayu. . Tau tak org arab jrg mandi sbb takde air, jd tak pyh tukar baju, nk keluar kena lah pakai abaya.. Apalah melayu mgt ni dah bahasa sendiri tak mau guna. Apa beza l dan you dgn ana dan anta.. Bahasa org jugak. dah lah utama guna bahasa org lain pakaian pun nk ikut budaya org lain jgk. Tak masuk akal... Baju kurung dah cukup selesa dan longgar . Suruh mgt pakai baju tok ke pejabat. Jgn pakai kot dan tali leher.

naniasda said...

apa kebenda 'mada' tu Teh? Kalau diarah pakai baju'tok' utk staff lelaki mesti gege riuh lah..xtau lah semuo nok terap budaya arab lama-lama 'hilang melayu di dunia'!

Teh Ani said...

Silap taip lah 'masa'... Org melayu gi London seminggu rumah ubah jd dekor inggeris, org Inggeris dok di Malaysia 2 dekad rumahnya ttp dekor inggeris.. Ikut yg diajar dlm al quran dan sunnah bkn ikut budaya org arab.. Dua benda berbeza... Jgn keliru

pB said...

abayo hok kain tebal tu tok nekak sangat ko tubuh.'


kalu hok kain licin tu , tu hok bahayo tu. keno pulok dok dalae bilik air cond , lagilah kain tu tea'pek kor kulit

naniasda said...

pB,
ni kain hok licin dan sejuk tapi xapo doh xpayoh pakai abaya ni pasal ramai xse pakai...kalu hok besar xdok shape blh kigho jugok.

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