Malaysia's human rights scorecard has been marred by rising social restrictions under Islamic laws and more detentions without trial, a leading rights group said in its annual report.

A trend of "moral policing" has seen Islamic values increasingly interfering with peoples' private lives, Suaram said in its 2004 human rights report released on the weekend.

The report said the enforcement of Shariah or Islamic religious law on Muslims in Malaysia was inconsistent and the interpretations were vague.

A blurring between state and religious affairs was also putting pressure on Muslims to conform and intruding on non-Muslims - who make up 40 percent of the population, it said.

"The state has no say in defining and controlling how people should dress, behave and pass their leisure time. We call upon the government and its agencies to stop using religions and morality as pretexts to govern the people's behaviour and private life," it said.

"The government must make it clear that we are a secular state and assert the individual rights of the people in the country," said Suaram director Kua Kia Soong.

"It must also make clear what the limits of Shariah law are, or it will make life more unbearable for liberal Muslims."

The report also showed that the number of arrests under the notorious Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows for detention without trial, increased from 97 in 2003 to 113 in 2004.

In addition, arrests under the Emergency Ordinance and Dangerous Drugs laws, which also allow for detentions without trial, were 10 times higher than those made under the ISA.

"What is even more dangerous is the way in which many of these cases are not highlighted and anybody could be arrested under any of these laws," Kua said.

Refugees nabbed

Suaram also criticised a continuing crackdown on illegal migrant workers, saying there were still no statistics on the number of people arrested, punished or deported.

"Raids and mass arrests take place across the country from time to time, where not only undocumented migrants were rounded up, but also refugees and asylum seekers," said Suaram.

The rights group said a "bright spot" in 2004 was the release from jail of former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim.

Anwar was sacked in 1998 and jailed on corruption and sodomy charges which he said were cooked up to prevent him challenging Mahathir for the premiership.

But overall, said Suaram, Malaysia's human rights situation was no better under Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who came to power in late 2003, than under his predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad.

"We think there's not enough reality compared to the rhetoric," said Kua.