Malaysia: Pantyless movement on Valentine’s Day · Global Voices
Mong Palatino

Two weeks ago, some female college students in Malaysia announced the “pantyless movement” on Valentine’s Day. The goal of the “no-panties promotion” is to show how women love their boyfriends. The campaign became quite popular through word of mouth and the internet.
lurveangel is against the campaign:
Not very highly-educated aren't they? If they are, they should know that not wearing your panties doesn't prove a true love okay? Just lust~ Of course it's kinky when you know your other half is not wearing anything underneath, but why make it public?? What's wrong with these people??!!
True love is SO not about whether one is covered up every single inch or bare naked when she's with her partner. People who confuse this are definitely someone who never been in love, or be loved. Or even know the meaning of “true love”.
The Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (JAIS) and other public moral authorities are very mad. They promise to hunt those who will join the pantyless movement because celebrating Valentine’s Day is a deviation of Islamic teaching.
Ms Daffodil accuses authorities of overreacting to the issue:
OK…..granted it’s pretty silly to be going panty-less just to show your love for someone……..and whoever thought of such crap is probably some sex-starved amphibian hiding behind some bushes at some escalator armed with a hand-mirror or camera phone……
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But for our country’s moral police to go jumping mad and issuing warnings about the evils of Valentine’s Day!!!??? Talk about “over-reacting” man……I mean, think about it for a minute here……if they wanted to, they can go panty-less any other day right?
Josh insists that not wearing panties should not pose a problem to others
Let me ask you one question, how does someone not wearing their underwear affect you as a person. Would you even realise it? Would you even know? How do you know that the very people you met on the street today actually have their underwears on? So why the fuss when chances are you would not even realise if a person has their underwear on and thus would not be affected by it. This is a non-issue to begin with. What people wear under their clothes is their own business and none of ours.
Mumsie wonders how authorities will identify pantyless college students. Will they raise the skirt of students?
Gosh, this is something really new and I wonder how on earth is JAIS going to prevent that from happening?!..Are they going to hunt these “panty-less” students by peeping under each and every skirt?!! That would be a glaring sex offence, wouldn’t it? I can imagine every male student on that day will be betting and guessing which female student is not wearing underpants! …;-)
The Other Malaysia recognizes the uniqueness of the protest/event:
1. The organisation of this ‘event’ was spontaneous and organic, not being instigated by any political party or popular politician;
2. The mode of organisation of the event was done via word-of-mouth and internet, pointing to the growing importance of the internet, sms-es and other forms of communication infrastructure that were put in place as part of Malaysia’s rapid development to a semi-industrialised economy;
3. The nature of the celebration/protest however remains non-political and primarily personal, as it is meant to serve as a demonstration of love for one’s partners.
Is the pantyless movement a form of ‘passive resistance’?
…it may be a passive resistance against a state religious bureaucracy whose role in the moral policing of society has become well known and notorious. (Note that this remains a hypothesis on our part)