'No SMS divorces for Malaysians'

'No SMS divorces for Malaysians'

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters): Malaysia will not permit Muslim men to divorce their wives through text messages on mobile telephones, the Star newspaper quoted a religious adviser to the government as saying on Thursday.

Hamid Othman, adviser to Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, said that although sharia might permit divorce using SMS -- or short messaging service, by which mobile phone users send each other brief bursts of text -- the government would not accept it.

"We have adequate laws to curb rash moves by Muslim men to divorce their wives without justification," the Star newspaper quoted Othman as saying on Wednesday.

Local women's groups have condemned the idea since a local religious leader said last week the practice was allowed under sharia (Islamic) law.