(AFP) - Religious authorities have rejected a request by transsexuals to be recognised as women, a report said today.

The Sunday Star newspaper quoted Abdul Hamid Zainal Abidin, minister in the prime minister's department in charge for religious matters said this was to prevent transsexuals from being lured into the flesh trade.

"The request cannot be entertained as it is clearly against Islamic beliefs and teachings. However, we will try to address the problem by having counselling classes for them," he said.

'Dignified outlook'

Early this year, a group of transsexuals asked Women and Family Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil to look into the possibility of declaring them as women instead of a third sex.

They said a large number of them could not get jobs because they were identified as men in their identity cards.

As a result, many of them ended up as prostitutes.

About 50,000 transsexuals had initially expected to be recognised as women following an assurance from Shahrizat that she would come up with a "dignified" outlook for them.