By MEERA VIJAYAN

JOHOR BARU, MALAYSIA: The Sultan of Johor, Sultan Iskandar Ismail, has expressed his displeasure at a DAP state assemblyman for not wearing the official attire at the State Assembly sitting.

He also challenged Bentayan state assemblyman Gwee Tong Hiang to come forward and seek an audience with him.

"Ada yang kat sini, yang semalam atau yang hari kelmarin, yang menunjuk-nunjuk jaguh, yang tak mahu pakai senonoh, kalau hendak, ini jam keluar kat sini (There are people here, who yesterday or the day before, tried to be heroes by not dressing decently - come out now here)," he said during his speech to officially launch the district of Kulai Jaya yesterday.

However, nothing further occurred as Gwee was not present at the function.

The controversy began when the state DAP assemblymen did not know whether to wear the songkok or not at the first State Assembly sitting.

A decision was made by the DAP state committee for all four DAP assemblymen to wear the full attire.

However, Gwee chose to dress in a Western-style suit and was thrown out of the assembly by Speaker Datuk Ali Hassan about an hour before Sultan Iskandar arrived on Friday.

Meanwhile, after the function yesterday, Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Abdul Ghani Othman said that henceforth, all those attending the Sultan's functions would be required to abide by the regulations.

He said Malay men had to be dressed in Baju Melayu Johor Teluk Belanga and songkok, while Malay women had to wear the Baju Kurung Johor Teluk Belanga with tudung.

"Non-Malay men must be dressed in suits with songkok, while non-Malay women must wear the Baju Kurung Johor Teluk Belanga.

"Non-Malay women must wear the tudung if they are in the Sultan's palace," he said.

When contacted, Gwee declined to comment.