THAILAND: A revealing dress worn by a minor actress has sparked a moral furore in Thailand, prompting a university to order the aspiring star to read to the blind in penance for her lapse in judgement.

Recalling a scandal sparked by British actress Elizabeth Hurley's safety-pin dress worn to a 1994 film premier, Chotiros "Amy" Suriyawong stepped out in a very little black number to Thailand's equivalent of the Oscars last week.

But the kingdom, currently experiencing something of a moral crusade, was not impressed with the frock, which featured a three-inch slit from the cleavage down to the thigh, held together by a few sparkly strips of cloth.

The dress, and her apparent lack of undergarments, caused a public outcry, with the Thai press berating the 22-year-old for offending Thai culture with the barely-there outfit, and web chat boards discussing little else.

Since the dress made its debut at the awards ceremony on February 9, there have been tears, apologies and retribution in Thailand, which is increasingly seeking to balance its traditional Buddhist values with the country's raunchier side, which attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists a year.

"I feel really guilty and sad, I would like to apologise to Thai people," said Chotiros, who has had a handful of small film roles and is currently studying at Thammasat University's faculty of liberal arts.

"It seems like my entertainment career is over," she said between sobs at a press conference at the end of the week, during which she demurely buttoned up in a red cardigan and plain white shirt.

Her Bangkok-based university on Thursday decided to take appropriate action against its rebellious student.

"We gave her a warning and asked her to do 15 days of community service, reading books and recording it for blind people," the Thai-language Daily News quoted the university's deputy president, Parinya Thaewanarumittkul, as saying.

But the film industry was not so lenient. Thailand's biggest production company, Sahamongkol Film, said it would cut her small part in their upcoming movie "Beautiful Samurai".

"We are not a porn company, I don't like the actress to show her body, it is not a good image," Khao Sod newspaper reported Somsak Techaratanaprasert, the company's president, as saying.

"We are Thai, we are a Thai production company, we have to preserve Thai culture," he added.

The Chotiros controversy is part of a wider moral crackdown in Thailand, reflecting the emergence of a puritanical strain which sees the country's party image as an affront to traditional Buddhist values that emphasise moderation.

Queen Sirikit weighed into the fray late last year, expressing her displeasure at so-called "Coyote Girls" - scantily-dressed young women dancing on bars emulating the Hollywood film "Coyote Ugly".

The new Thai government, which took power after a coup here last September, has also moved to ban alcohol advertising, and last week sent police squads out to nightclubs to prevent teens from having sex on Valentine's Day.