another stupid idea up north
luckily.. their leader still sane...Abdullah calls for halt to sex-spy plan
Feb 23, 2007 The Straits Times JAKARTA -
MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi yesterday called on state governments to stop forming 'snoop squads' to spy on Muslim couples.
His comments at the end of a two-day visit to Indonesia followed an earlier announcement by Terengganu state that it plans to hire spies to catch couples committing khalwat or 'close proximity', which is considered a sin in Islam.
Datuk Seri Abdullah said spying could be considered an intrusion of privacy.
'We do not need to form groups for spying because if there is anything bad happening, there are laws on indecent behaviour in public places.
'If we want to go around spying on others, this can be seen as an intrusion of privacy,' he said.
He added that the state religious departments have programmes that can be implemented to improve the morals of Muslims and inculcate Islamic values.
Malaysian rights groups have reacted angrily to the plan to hire spies in Terengganu, fearing it would lead to abuse of power.
Sisters-in-Islam, a Muslim women's group that champions gender rights, urged the state authorities to scrap the plan, saying 'moral policing by state religious authorities and their auxiliary services have often led to rampant abuses of power'.
'We call on the Terengganu government to call off its plan and to stop turning the people of Terengganu into spies of the state,' the group's programme manager Zaitun Kasim said in a statement.
'The public funds that will be wasted on this can be put to better use, particularly for public education.'
Under the plan, spies trained by Terengganu's religious officials will be placed at hotels and parks. They will be rewarded for tipping off the authorities about couples in compromising situations.
posted by nicelegs @ 4:55 PM
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