COMMENT | Here's a tudung story for you. A Malay graduate of an English university found work with a company in Kuala Lumpur. Just before she finished her first day of work, her boss said, "Do you think you could wear the tudung, tomorrow? We do a lot of work for the government and their officers sometimes drop in unannounced."

She asked why the panel of interviewers failed to mention the compulsory wearing of the tudung, but was met with a stony silence.

This graduate equates the tudung with control, arrogance and deception.

For others, the tudung symbolises liberation, oppression or regression, but one aspect that we ignore, is its use as a political tool, to manipulate the masses.

One G25 member told me, "It was because of Anwar Ibrahim that many Malays in Universiti Malaya had to wear the tudung."

Many friends and relatives also claim that in the 80s, they were forced to wear the tudung at school. Later on, others who worked as government servants, claimed that their chances of promotion improved after they wore the tudung.

I know of many friends and family who remove their tudung as soon as they go overseas. They lead double lives, instead of standing up to their male peers and relatives.

The art of using the tudung as a means of political manipulation continues today. The recent tudung debate has exposed the double standards of our ministers.

Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister, Noh Omar (photo), has instructed local authorities to withdraw the licences of hotels that prohibit Muslim women employees from wearing the tudung.

Noh said that these hoteliers were acting "contrary to the Federal Constitution and international human rights".

The Tourism Minister, Nazri Aziz, said that he was prepared to revoke the licences of hotels that banned tudung-clad employees because the hotels went against the constitution...