Malaysian chess tournament organisers who banned girl over 'seductive' dress face flak

Malaysian politicians have sought an explanation from the organisers of a chess tournament after a 12-year-old girl's ban over the dress she wore provoked national and international outrage.

The girl was participating in the National Scholastic Chess Championship 2017 on 14 April in Putrajaya, just south of Kuala Lumpur, when she was removed from the tournament because of her dress.

The girl's coach, Kaushal Khandhar, who has raised the issue on social media, said an official had called the young girl's over-the-knee dress "seductive".

"In the middle of Round 2, without stopping the clocks, the chief arbiter informed my student that the dress she wore was improper," the coach said in a Facebook post, addressing the Malaysian chess community.

Khandhar added that the official also told the girl and her mother that the tournament director thought that the girl's dress was "seductive" and a "temptation from a certain angle far, far away".

Zuraida Kamaruddin, an MP for the National Justice Party, has condemned the incident. She also called out the organisers for not providing a proper statement in response, the BBC said.

"I am very agitated about the issue. I feel for the young girl as if she were my own daughter," Kamaruddin said on Monday (1 May).

Datuk Heng Seai Kie, an adviser for the government's Department of National Unity and National Integration, has also called the incident shameful and added that the organisers should not act as "moral police" by telling girls what to wear.

"Playing chess has nothing to do with dressing, as it is a healthy activity, and from the photo, she was decently dressed," she added.

While the guidelines of the World Chess Federation say players should adhere to a "high-standard dress code", it does not specify what those high standards are.

The girl's coach, Khandhar, said he would wait until 2 May for the tournament director's apology and would consider legal action if it did not come.