Ahok Affirms School Children Are Not Required To Wear Betawi Traditional Clothing In Today's Memory, 7 August 2014

Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama with school children. (ANTARA)

JAKARTA Memories of today, 10 years ago, August 7, 2014, Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta, Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) did not require junior high and high school students throughout Jakarta to wear Betawi traditional clothes every Friday. He also gave students the freedom to wear traditional clothes or Muslim clothing.

Previously, the DKI Jakarta Education Office required the use of traditional Betawi clothing every Friday. Men wear conscious clothes. Women use an encim kebaya. The regulation raises a polemic because clothes are expensive.

The rules for using school uniforms can actually be a polemic. This condition occurred in Jakarta. The trigger is the Circular Letter of the Education Office Number 48/SE/2014. The DKI Jakarta Education Office instructs all students in schools to wear traditional Betawi clothing every Friday.

Men are required to wear a conscious shirt. Women use an encim kebaya. The regulation was signed directly by the Head of the DKI Jakarta Education Office (Kadisdik), Lasro Marbun. This means that there is no longer any use of Muslim clothing every Friday.

The regulation is fully supported by the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud). The selection of traditional clothing is considered the freedom of an area that in fact has been stated in the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture (Permendikbud) Number 45 of 2014.

Rules for the use of traditional Betawi clothing raise polemics. Parents start to object to the presence of the rules. They think buying or sewing Betawi traditional clothes will make them spend extra money.

The letter interpreted that all students can no longer wear Muslim clothing. Parents criticize a lot. They want the school to ask their parents' abilities first. Not immediately state mandatory.

The school can offer traditional clothing as an option, not a mandatory one. Anyone who wants to wear Betawi traditional clothes is welcome. The rest who want to wear Muslim clothing are also allowed. The series is considered a solution rather than taking charge of requiring traditional Betawi clothing.

"It's part of the wideness of the region making its own uniform for cultural conservation. In the 45/2014 Permen, every school must provide protection to children who wear uniforms according to their beliefs," explained the Minister of Education and Culture, M. Nuh as quoted on the detik.com page, August 6, 2014.

Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta, Ahok has actually become a body pair. He said the appeal from the DKI Jakarta Education Office had been corrected on August 7, 2014. As a result, Ahok revealed that the use of traditional Betawi clothing was not mandatory.

Teaching participants can still use Muslim clothing for Friday school as usual. Meanwhile, those who want to wear Betawi traditional clothes are welcome. Ahok also realized that most parents objected. He also did not want to make parents indecisive.

"It's just a misinterpretation. It's not an obligation, really. Then there are those who mean that Muslim clothes that students usually wear every Friday are prohibited. In fact, the meaning is not like that.

"I ask that the contents of the letter be corrected that the wearing of the traditional clothes or encim kebaya is not mandatory and female students can still wear the headscarf. So, every Friday students are released to wear their respective regional traditional clothes or Muslim clothing," said Ahok as quoted on the tempo.co page, 7 August 2014.