Straits Times 19 Jan 08;
KUALA LUMPUR - IT IS a welcome change for civil servants who normally wear a coat and tie to work every day.
Now, they just have to put on a batik shirt to work on Thursdays.
'Batik shirts are cooling and I need not wear a thick suit and tie every day in this hot Malaysian weather,' Public Complaints Bureau director-general Chua Hong Teck said.
The government has made it compulsory for civil servants to wear batik to work on Thursdays. The previous directive was for them to wear batik every first and 15th working day of each month
Secondary school teacher Muhairene Mohammed, 37, said that getting the three major races to wear batik would help to promote the Malaysian image. However, batik clothes are costly, she said.
'The best material for batik is silk and it is quite expensive. It costs about RM200 for each outfit, and that doesn't even include the tailoring fee,' she said. RM200 is about S$90.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
