No short shorts please, we’re Malaysian

“No shorts in case of an accident while driving”. I had to remind myself of this while on my weekly drive from Kuala Lumpur to Penang, last Sunday.

I mean in the unlikely event we get into a mishap along the way, which then requires us to show up at a police station, I didn’t want to be turned away. Turned away like some Malaysians have been recently, on account of not adhering to the strict moral code of dressing that the civil service is adamant in upholding.

I was stern with my Austrian wife, too. I took a tape measure to the dress she was wearing before we left at 6.45am on the day. For her, it looked decent enough. It was with sleeves, albeit not till her elbow, and almost touched her knees.