Malaysia Aborts Privacy Spies Plan

“We accept the Prime Minister’s view on the matter,” Idris said.

"We accept the Prime Minister’s view on the matter," said Idris Jusoh, chief minister of the Northeastern state of Terengganu.

"What we should do is abide by the directive of our Prime Minister."

Abdullah has asked the state's officials to drop plans to enlist the public, including hotel waitresses or janitors, to sniff out un-Islamic behavior by unmarried couples, including kissing.

He dismissed the plan as an invasion of privacy.

Earlier, Terengganu religious officials said the state would not be setting up a snoop team to spy on Muslims committing khalwat (close proximity between unrelated men and women) but would depend on "informers" to curb vice activities.

But the chief minister refuted such a change, asserting that the plans have been scrapped altogether.

Terengganu was not the first Malaysian state to contemplate such plans.

Malacca and Selangor states previously had volunteer "snoop squads," which were later disbanded following widespread criticism.

The federal government had long made known its disapproval of such moves.

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

Under Islamic law, which operates alongside the civil code in multicultural Malaysia, khalwat is forbidden.

Needless  

Asri insists Shari`ah laws already govern immoral behavior and other negative activities.

Terengganu state authorities acknowledged that there were more activities beneficial to Muslims that religious authorities could focus on.

The premier's directive against the spying plans was highly lauded, even by religious leaders in other states.

Mohamad Asri Zainul Abidin, the mufti of the northernmost state of Perlis, has asserted that Shari`ah already governs immoral behavior and other negative activities.

Malaysia's newest and youngest mufti insisted that people could refer to scholars to check on vice activities without the need for snoop squads.

Sunday's Star also praised Abdullah's rejection of the controversial plan.

"Experience demonstrates that religious self-righteousness from any quarter leads nowhere but national ruin," read the newspaper's editorial.

"Antagonizing members of the public who are minding their own business will make us all look like Third World zealots and do other considerable harm to our nation."

Malaysia, current chair of the umbrella Organization of Muslim Countries (OIC), offers the image of a ideal Muslim country.

It is heading towards the status of a developed nation with huge buildings, beautiful cities and a fast track economy.

Malays, mostly Muslims, make up nearly 60 percent of Malaysia’s 26 million people.

Ethnic Chinese and Indians - most of them Buddhists, Hindus and Christians - make up about 35 percent. The rest are indigenous people and Eurasians.