Policies on uniforms vary from country to country

Since the 1970s, civil servants in the capital have been wearing uniforms purchased by the city administration. Do civil servants in other cities in Asia wear uniforms? The Jakarta Post's Reggy Sutanto and Tubagus Arie Rukmantara look into the matter in the fourth and last article on uniforms.

An informal survey on uniform policies in the capitals of five neighboring countries in Asia reveals that Jakarta is one of the few capitals in the region where civil servants are required to wear uniforms on a daily basis.

The only capital that has a similar policy is Yangon in Myanmar.

"It's just like Jakarta," said a Myanmar Embassy official, adding: "There they wear uniforms from the top to the bottom level."

In Singapore, according to Dr. Russell Heng, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, aside from police officers, firemen and military personnel, no civil servants wear uniforms.

"As a general rule, no one wears uniforms," said Dr. Russell, who also edits Sojourn, a journal covering social issues in Southeast Asia.

"It has always been like this," said Russell. "In the days of the British rule they never wore uniforms and we just continued from there."

"Uniforms are necessary only when an image of authority wants to be projected," said Russell. "The other government employees are providing services on a day to day basis. They should be measured more for efficiency rather than authority."

In Vietnam, according to a Vietnam Embassy official in Jakarta, there is no standard uniform for municipal employees in Hanoi, nor are uniforms required for employees in the national civil service.

However, she said that the city employees did observe a dress code, with female employees wearing various colors of the Ao dai, the traditional Vietnamese long dress, and men wearing business shirts.

Russell, who has conducted extensive research in Vietnam, said that uniforms were not mandatory over there at this time, adding that Vietnamese civil servants had not worn uniforms on a day to day basis since the 1980s.

"A lot of communist countries went through a revolutionary stage when they wore uniforms," said Russell. "In Vietnam, that stage is over now."

"Now the civil servants are very much dressed like those in Singapore and Malaysia," said Russell.

In Malaysia, nobody wears uniforms daily except for law enforcement personnel, such as police or immigration officers, a staff member at the Malaysian Embassy in Jakarta, told The Jakarta Post.

"In principal those who wear uniforms are those with the authority to enforce regulations," said the embassy staffer, who declined to be identified.

Ahmad Rizal, of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, who deals with civil servants there said that the only city employees wearing uniforms in the capital were low-level employees, such as cleaning service employees and drivers, and public order officers.

"It's mainly because the administration wants to project and portray a certain image," said Rizal, who works at a charitable children's foundation.

He added that other civil servants owned uniforms, which were subsidized, but only wore them during specific functions and meetings.

In Thailand, employees of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration only wear uniforms once a week according, to Sittha Leiptabonsiri, who works at a university in the Thai capital.

"They have uniforms, but they don't wear them every day from Monday to Friday," said Siitha. "On the days they aren't wearing a uniform, they have to wear a tag with their name and position."

An official at the Thai Embassy in Jakarta concurred.

"In general there are no specific uniforms, just a standard dress code," said the official. Most government employees prefer to wear traditional Thai attire.

He added, however, that at some provincial offices, uniforms were worn, because they were more affordable for the employees.

"A uniform is good because it shows unity and identifies the organization being represented," said the official. "No uniform is also good because it shows individuality and uniqueness." (002/006)