I am just amazed at how some Malaysian politicians who jumped to criticise the Singapore authorities for imposing the tudung ban on four primary one schoolchildren, failed to mention that even if one believed that Islam required females to wear the tudung, it does not become compulsory until they have reached puberty. One does not expect six-year-olds in general to have reached puberty. If Islam does not mandate it for children, why then does it become an obsessive religious issue?

They also failed to mention, or perhaps do not know, that the concept of wearing the tudung is based on the concept of privacy in Islam. Thanks to publicity on the parental threats to sue the authorities and their continued defiance of the ban, the Muslim community in Singapore has attracted further negative attention to themselves after the Sept 11 debacle.

Not many Muslims realise that such negative publicity is counter to Islam's concept of privacy. Such publicity cannot possibly enhance their children's acceptance by a largely non-Muslim Singapore which freshly remembers the vivid images of the twin-towers imploding and the recent arrests of a militant group with all Muslim members whose plans were to overthrow their government by force. In other words, non-Muslims fear radical Islam and its many manifestations which include the so-called Islamic attire.

It appears that Muslims in Singapore and Malaysia are obsessed with Islamic physical forms like head scarves, skull caps, moustaches, beards and an assortment of Arabic and lately, Pakistani attire, which do not reflect a continuity with the elegant Malay-Muslim wear of the past. Such an obsession with form is without substance for it only trivialises Islam in the eyes of the world.

How are climatic factors, the Malay identity and Malay elegance factored into the Malay-Muslim attire of today? For the six-year-olds, shouldn't their outfits allow them freedom of movement without encumbrances?

Thanks to their parents, the children have now become controversial figures in their respective schools and country. How socially acceptable will they be to Singapore's mainstream society? What kind of future can we hope for them if they are deprived of mainstream education? Is it worth sacrificing a child's future for the sake of a piece of cloth which is more of an Arabic or Iranian head wear than it is Malay in form?