PM jokingly reprimands Home Minister for wearing batik in Parliament

KUALA LUMPUR: During a light moment in Parliament, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, in jest, reprimanded Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail for not following the official Parliament dress code.

It began when Datuk Rosol Wahid (PN-Hulu Terengganu) pointed out that Saifuddin was wearing a batik during Prime Minister’s Question Time (PMQT) on Tuesday (July 2).

“Before I raise my question, I want to ask about the Parliament dress code. Are we allowed to wear batik? Because I see that the Home Minister is wearing batik today,” said Rosol.

Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul, who was chairing the session at the time, told Rosol to raise his question to Anwar first.

“I will comment in a while,” said Johari briefly.

Anwar, in response, said that Saifuddin should’ve known about the Parliament's official dress code.

“I want to remind the Home Minister to follow the rules of Parliament's dress code,” said Anwar, smiling.

Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (BN-Ayer Hitam) also spoke about the moment in a Facebook posting on Tuesday (July 2) afternoon.

“Interesting time at the Dewan Rakyat this morning when the Opposition asked why the Home Minister wears Batik during the PMQT session as today is not Thursday.

“The Prime Minister then ‘advised’ the Home Minister to follow the rules,” said Dr Wee.

Batik outfits are allowed on Thursdays when Parliament sits, and MPs are not required to wear them.

On regular days, male MPs can wear a lounge suit without a necktie.