History was made at the Dewan Rakyat this morning as several lawmakers ditched their ties and suits in favour of Malaysian batik shirts.
The ruling on attire, enforced recently, will now allow MPs to wear batik on Thursdays. This was a move by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry to promote the industry.
Multiple efforts to get batik into the august House had been made in the past but without success. This, despite the warm reception by MPs from both sides of the divide.
Even deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Rashid Hasnon had a batik shirt underneath his suit.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri thanked MPs for wearing Malaysian batik, adding “you deserve all the applause”.
“To celebrate this historic day, the first day batik is donned in the Dewan Rakyat, I would like to announce that MPs and the Malaysian Family will receive a RM30 cash rebate for every RM100 purchase of any Malaysian craft sold at Kraftangan outlets nationwide,” said Nancy.
“This is to also help the batik industry.”
Tangga Batu MP Rusnah Aluai and Ketereh MP Tan Sri Annuar Musa, who is also Communications and Multimedia Minister, even dedicated a pantun, praising the beauty of batik.
In 2019, PKR lawmaker Nurul Izzah Anwar, suggested that MPs wore batik in the Dewan Rakyat. She received support from MPs on both sides of the aisle.
On Sept 26, Twentytwo13 published an article, ‘In Parliament or taxis, it’s time we make Malaysian batik chic again’, stressing that batik was an art form that transcended status, colour, and creed.