FROM THE COLONIAL DESIGN TO THE MALAYMUSLIM STYLE: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CIVILIAN NURSE UNIFORM AT THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE MALAYSIA (1981 TO 2018)

Abstract

The civilian nurse post in the Ministry of Defence Malaysia was introduced in 1981. Since then, the uniform has undergone a series of transformation which has never been formally documented. This historical case study examines the evolution of the civilian nurse uniform at the Ministry of Defence Malaysia concerning the local cultural and religious dress code. The paper divides the constant metamorphosis into four phases based on data collected through face-to-face interviews, photo analysis, and document analysis. The first phase involved the maintenance of the colonial-style nurse uniform. The first attempt to accommodate the local dress code norm occurred in the second phase in the 1980s when the nurses chose to wear either a knee-length short-sleeved uniform or a pair of pants with the short-sleeved blouse and were later allowed to wear a neck-exposing hair cover. The nurses were finally permitted to wear Muslim-friendly uniforms in the third phase in 2001. Finally, in the current phase (since 2012), the nurse uniforms are standardised with the Ministry of Health Malaysia uniforms, which considers the local cultural and religious clothing norm. The incorporation of the cultural and religious needs of the nurses depicts how employers may assimilate these needs without compromising the professional standards of practice, which has been a long-standing controversial issue for Muslim personnel globally.