IT would be a positive move by the government to set up a special court to hear cases involving apostasy, conversions, custody of children, annulment of marriage, disputes over joint property between Muslims and non-Muslims, now that there are more cases appearing regularly and in need of a settlement to make sure that the parties to the suit do not feel deprived of justice.

Although the official religion of Malaysia is Islam, about 40 per cent of its population belong to other faiths.

Conflicts arising out of conversions, renunciations and property rights are bound to arise to test the legal process and these cases need to be resolved amicably and consistently.

A special court comprising judges with both syariah and civil law expertise can be instituted to hear such cases. The court will also settle the problem of non-attendance by an aggrieved party, citing lack of jurisdiction.

The government, too, needs to end the ambiguity of the syariah-civil law dichotomy and jurisdiction in these cases.
Many of the problems were not envisaged when the laws were legislated decades ago.

Only time has revealed the shortcomings.



No other country in the world faces these types of problems as the law in these areas are not sufficiently and clearly defined to allow disputed cases to be settled with certainty.

Malaysia must make sure that the ambiguities and uncertainties in the law, which have created much unease and anxiety, are dealt with.