YOU tell me honestly. Do you find the school uniform now worn by girls in government schools sexy?

Let me give you my honest answer. I think it is too plain, too simple and even ugly. But I like the white colour — it signifies purity, perhaps chastity too. And aha, a white school uniform makes good material for washing detergent commercials as well.

I find it difficult to comprehend why the National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia recently condemned the uniform as being too sexy and encouraging rape and pre-marital sex.

The association claims it has 1,500 members. Okay, it cannot be representative of the more than two million schoolgirls in the country. But I have something more serious for the association to look into other than wasting time bringing up an issue over nothing.

I like to close this chapter on the sexy uniform as even Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein has said there is nothing sexy about it. Other student and women groups have expressed similar sentiments.

The association’s only ally is Islamic party PAS Wanita wing who wants the ministry to seriously consider the views stated, adding that the association’s criticism against the white uniform must be mooted by their belief on Islam and its teachings on the matter.

Oh, Islam has been brought into the argument and I have no intention (and not qualified too) to delve into anything Islamic. What I do know is that a Muslim minister has disagreed with the association. Also, education ministers in this country have all been Muslims and it is they who introduced the school uniform for girls which are now deemed to be sexy.

Come on, students (Muslims and non-Muslims alike), please be sensible and learn to draw the line somewhere between sexy and a plain and ugly school uniform. If the loose, white blouse worn by schoolgirls is too transparent, just wear a camisole underneath. What’s so difficult about that?

Next, some smart people in the association may call for a ban for teachers (male and female) from wearing anything white to school. So female teachers are not allowed to wear any transparent white top if the material is transparent! Wouldn’t this be ridiculous?

What I would like the association to focus on is a more serious issue involving students, which was featured in a national daily this week. Schoolgirls and college students are being lured into the attractive night life as guest relations officers (GROs).

The front-page story in the New Straits Times last Tuesday recounted the stories of several girls who were either moonlighting or working full-time in the profession.

Easy money … that was what led 19-year-old Noreen to become a part-time GRO at a karaoke outlet.

She begins work at 6pm daily and finishes at about 2am on weekdays and 4am on weekends. She earns up to RM150 a day, depending on the number of customers.

Noreen, who hails from Port Dickson, says she is studying computer programming in Seremban but often found herself short of money.

She hopes to complete her course by next year but in the mean time, she needs about RM1,500 every month to pay her fees, rental and other expenses.

Then there was the story of Kim, from Muar. Kim got into prostitution when her desire to live a luxurious life drove her to sell her body at 16.

She befriended a woman at a local hairdresser who promised her earnings of between RM500 and RM700 per night, depending on ‘how hard she worked’.

“I started working as a part-time GRO at a karaoke bar. I didn’t do sex then and only kept the lonely men who came to the bar company,” said Kim, now 22.

At that time, she earned between RM50 and RM150 a night, depending on the number of customers and the sale of drinks.

But shortly after, she got a boyfriend who was much older than her and not long after that, she started offering sexual services.

“My boyfriend began introducing clients to me and since I was very young at that time, the men paid between RM500 and RM600 to sleep with me.” In just a few weeks, ‘the work became a routine’ and she was servicing up to four men per night.

“My earnings increased tremendously and I was able to buy anything I wanted.”

A prostitute for five years now, Kim says she has no plans to ‘retire’.

According to MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong, stories of students turning GROs or prostitutes aren’t a new thing in Malaysia.

“It used to be mainly foreign students who ran out of money half-way through their course or who were tricked by their boyfriends. But there is an increasing number of local students who are engaging in such activities now.

“The trend is worrying. I hear there are quite a lot. Some parents come to me asking me to advise their children to stop doing it,” Chong said.

In recent years, reports of students from local universities advertising their services on the Internet have grabbed the headlines of some Malay dailies.

Chong says money is a big attraction for the students, as some girls can make up to RM5,000 a night.

I hope the National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia would seriously look into the matter as quite a number of young Malay girls are also found to be involved in the trade.

The association would be doing a great service to the student community if it could be on the lookout for potential wayward schoolgirls and provide some form of counselling to them.

Perhaps the association can take a cue from the Focus on the Family Sarawak, which brought some 70 teenagers together for a two-day ‘No Apologies’ workshop jointly organised with The Borneo Post, thesundaypost, See Hua Daily News and Utusan Borneo in Kuching this week.

In her opening speech at the function, The Borneo Post general operations manager Phyllis Wong said well-balanced teens with good moral upbringing did not come by chance, but through attentive parenting.

‘The happiest teens are those who know the limits of what they can and cannot do, especially when the subject matter concerns sexuality,’ she added. I couldn’t agree more with Phyllis Wong.

I think student bodies should be involved more in such activities. If the National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia, with its 1500 members could organise such programmes in various parts of the country, imagine the number of schoolgirls they could reach. This will, in turn, help the girls from falling into the pitfalls of enjoying life in the fast lane at an early age when they could ill afford it.

This is my challenge to the association. It is definitely a more fruitful course of action than to waste time campaigning against a so-called sexy uniform which isn’t so in the first place.

(Comments can reach the writer at paulsir99@hotmail.com)