Malaysia PM rejects plan for religious spies: Paper

Kuala Lumpur, Feb 23: Malaysia has shot down a controversial plan by state officials to recruit Islamic ''spies'' to snoop on unmarried lovers and report them to religious authorities, saying there was no need for such activities.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, prime minister of mostly-Muslim Malaysia and himself an Islamic scholar, disapproved of the move, saying there were more activities beneficial to Muslims that state religious authorities could focus on, newspapers said.

''Why should we ask people to spy and then reward them?'' the New Straits Times today quoted Abdullah as saying in Jakarta, where the premier was winding up a two-day trip to Indonesia.

This week a religious official in Terengganu state said the government would enlist the public, including hotel waitresses or janitors, as part-time spies to sniff out un-Islamic behaviour, such as unmarried couples kissing or holding hands.

But Abdullah said the move to snoop on people could be misunderstood by Muslims and non-Muslims, noting that existing sharia or Islamic religious laws governed immoral behaviour and other negative activities, the paper said.

He urged religious authorities and sharia courts to focus on clearing an existing large backlog of cases instead, state news agency Bernama said.

Last October, religious police in another part of the country caused an outcry when they mistakenly raided the rented holiday apartment of a Christian American couple on suspicion that they were unmarried Muslims in ''close proximity''.

Reuters