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!

Daiyan's Giant Caterpillars (Part II)

                                      CEO of RapidKL's tweet inviting Daiyan to visit LRT depot...                          ...