Hijabi Issues

Konon marah ah ni.

Assalamualaikum (kalau jawab sayang).

If you don't know, I am actively involved in theater and acting in my university. I really love it - I love playing other personas on stage, I love the adrenaline rush I get whenever I look at the crowd, I love that chill at the back of my neck whenever I hear the crowd roar in laughter.

So you could've imagine how delighted I was when my sister told me that she wants to participate in a school play. Back in high school, I didn't get as much opportunities to actually participate in shows though I really love stage acting. The play that my sister was interested to be in is a classical Bawang Merah Bawang Putih tale, narrated in Bahasa Melayu. It's a pretty safe play to be in if you ask me, but I was indeed very happy for her.

Apparently, today was her first day of rehearsals, and she would be informed of what character she would be playing. Instead, she got home with one of her teenage hormone-induced moods with a surprisingly thought provoking conversation she had with her drama teacher.

Drama teacher (for the lack of a better word)/My sister - "Awak boleh tak buka tudung kalau nak berlakon?" "Em... saya tak nak buka tudung," "Kalau awak buka tudung, mak bapak awak marah ke?" "Hmm mak saya memang tak suka kalau saya buka tudung,"

And she ended up with a minor role only because she refuses to wear off her scarf. According to her, if she agreed to take her scarf off, she'd probably get a better role. 

I seriously thought these things would never be issues, well not right now. There are many hijabis out there who are appropriately dressed and are allowed to keep their hijabs and they still appear on television. They are still given a right to channel their creativity somewhere. Do you actually believe that a play would fail entirely because one of your actors chooses to wear her hijab throughout the whole show?

No, don't think so. People these days.