SSM stands by dress code, says it is ‘good practice’

The Companies Commission of Malaysia says it regrets the incident involving a woman wearing a ‘short dress’ to its Ipoh office yesterday.

PETALING JAYA: The Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) has defended its dress code for anyone who visits their offices as a “good practice”.

This comes as the Ipoh SSM office yesterday turned away a woman for wearing a dress that was deemed inappropriate as the hemline was not below the knee.

“The dress code for SSM service counters is a good practice that has been in place for a long time, and is also enforced at other government departments and agencies,” SSM said in a statement.

“The customer was assisted with her transaction on the same day at 3.20pm. We regret the incident and are open to suggestions to improve our service.”

Khor Hooi Chin was barred from entering SSM’s office in Ipoh at 11am yesterday, with her pleas for leniency caught in a video clip that has now gone viral.

In the video clip, Khor could be heard asking the SSM staff what was “offensive” about her dress and complained that the guidelines were “too strict”.

The employee then told her that she can raise the matter with his superior, to which Khor replied that she was not even allowed to enter the building.

The employee repeatedly reminded Khor that her attire did not comply with the dress code guidelines which were displayed at the entrance.

Khor later told The Star that her dress was considered “office wear and there was nothing provocative about it”.

The incident is the latest involving a woman being denied entry to a government office due to an alleged breach of the dress code.

On Feb 16, it was reported that a 60-year-old woman was barred from using the elevator at the Pasir Gudang City Council office after a security guard had deemed her attire “inappropriate”.

In January, a woman who wanted to lodge a police report following a car accident was denied entry into the Kajang district police headquarters because she was “wearing shorts”.