Rights groups reacted angrily today to Terengganu's plans to hire spies to catch couples engaged in extramarital sex, fearing it would lead to abuses of power.

Sisters in Islam, a women's group that champions gender rights, urged authorities in Terengganu 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 located in hotels and parks.

They will be rewarded for tipping off authorities about couples caught in compromising situations.

Rosol Wahid, chairman of the state's Islam Hadhari and Welfare Committee, said the move was aimed at curbing the rising number of couples committing "khalwat" or "close proximity" - a huge sin in Islam.

Khalwat also applies to men and women caught together in private or showing affection in public, such as holding hands. It applies to Muslims only.

Disband the spy squad

Lim Guan Eng, secretary-general of the opposition Chinese-based Democratic Action Party, warned the plan would drive away foreign tourists and threaten the way of live of ordinary people in in multi-racial Malaysia.

"Malaysians have seen what happened when religious authorities abuse their power in Langkawi last year, when the hotel room of an elderly American couple was raided," he said.

Officials raided the apartment of a retired American couple living on Malaysia's northern resort island of Langkawi on suspicion of khalwat, although it was not clear why the home of a non-Muslim was targeted.

"Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi should be consistent in stopping arbitrary moral policing by ordering Terengganu to disband the spy squad," he added.