Municipal officials in Pekanbaru, Riau, are requiring school children to wear traditional Muslim dress every Friday as part of an effort to bolster the region's Malay identity, an official said on Tuesday.

The policy, which came into effect this week with the start of the new school year, means that pupils from elementary to senior high schools would have to wear traditional dress, said Giman, an official with the Pekanbaru municipal education office. "It is aimed at getting the younger generation to appreciate the Malay Muslim heritage of the region."

Female students would be required to wear long skirts, long-sleeved blouses and headscarves, while male students would have to wear loose-fitting pants, collarless long-sleeved shirts and the peci, a traditional brimless Malay cap.

"The same policy is already in force for civil servants," Gimin said, adding that there would not be any immediate penalties imposed on those who failed to comply with the dress code.

He said that for other days of the week, students would wear their usual national school uniforms. Gimin declined to comment further, and would not say whether the rule would also be applied to non-Muslim students and private schools.

Pekanbaru Deputy Mayor Erizal Muluk, however, was quoted by state new agency Antara as saying that the regulation would only apply to Muslim children and state schools.

"If there are schools with predominantly non-Muslim students, and the basis of the schools is also not Islam, then we will not force them to dress in the Muslim way," he said. (JG, Antara)