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Spotlight on tudung ban and racial harmony, AsiaOne Singapore News
A polytechnic lecturer asked at a race forum on Wednesday why nurses were barred from wearing tudungs, sparking a discussion on whether frontline officers here should be allowed to wear the Muslim headscarf and the practices in other countries.
Mr Chong Ching Liang, the first of 11 forum participants to share their thoughts on racial harmony, said nursing students had to remove their Muslim headscarves before going on clinical attachments or starting full-time work in hospitals.
"How much are we as a society willing to tolerate differences that different members of a population bring?" he asked.
The topic was also raised recently by a committee tasked to collect feedback on the concerns of Malays.
The Suara Musyawarah committee, in a report released in July, pointed out that there are scores of girls coming out of madrasahs who would gladly work as nurses if they could wear the headscarf.
The reason given for not allowing this is that tudungs are not part of nurses' uniforms.
At Wednesday's forum, former Nominated MP Zulkifli Baharudin observed that the headscarf issue is one that other countries like France are also grappling with. He was one of four panellists in the forum at The Grassroots Club in Yio Chu Kang.
He said he believed that this was a lost cause in Europe, and that immigrants had to make an effort to integrate into their new homeland.
Still, he expressed optimism that nurses here will probably be allowed to wear tudungs in the future, though "deep perceptions" have to be removed first. "It's not something that you can legislate and say, this matter is over," he added.
A polytechnic lecturer asked at a race forum on Wednesday why nurses were barred from wearing tudungs, sparking a discussion on whether frontline officers here should be allowed to wear the Muslim headscarf and the practices in other countries.
Mr Chong Ching Liang, the first of 11 forum participants to share their thoughts on racial harmony, said nursing students had to remove their Muslim headscarves before going on clinical attachments or starting full-time work in hospitals.
"How much are we as a society willing to tolerate differences that different members of a population bring?" he asked.
The topic was also raised recently by a committee tasked to collect feedback on the concerns of Malays.
The Suara Musyawarah committee, in a report released in July, pointed out that there are scores of girls coming out of madrasahs who would gladly work as nurses if they could wear the headscarf.
The reason given for not allowing this is that tudungs are not part of nurses' uniforms.
At Wednesday's forum, former Nominated MP Zulkifli Baharudin observed that the headscarf issue is one that other countries like France are also grappling with. He was one of four panellists in the forum at The Grassroots Club in Yio Chu Kang.
He said he believed that this was a lost cause in Europe, and that immigrants had to make an effort to integrate into their new homeland.
Still, he expressed optimism that nurses here will probably be allowed to wear tudungs in the future, though "deep perceptions" have to be removed first. "It's not something that you can legislate and say, this matter is over," he added.
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