PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Syariah Lawyers Association (PGSM) recommends that all laws, procedures and judicial governance as well as Syariah Court legislation be standardised across every state in the country.
Its president, Musa Awang, said in his experience of serving in several states, procedures and governance were not consistent and proved to be very 'exhausting' for Syariah Court legal practitioners.
For example, for a claim to confirm divorce or polygamy, there are states that start proceedings with a summons and statement of claim at the same time, but there are also states that use applications and affidavits.
He was speaking to reporters after attending the 2024 Syariah Judicial and Legal Discourse Council, yesterday.
Musa said there were many challenges faced by the Syariah Courts, not only regarding its decisions but also the legislation that applies in the Syariah Court such as in the case of M.Indira Gandhi versus the Director of the Perak Islamic Religious Department in 2018.
He said, other challenges involve the case of Iki Putra Mubarak against the Selangor Government 2021 and the case of Nik Elin Zurina Nik Abdul Rashid against the Kelantan Government which will be decided by the Federal Court this Friday.
He said, if the legislation is not harmonised, there will definitely be parties who will use it as an excuse to challenge the judiciary and Syariah legislation.
"However, I do not deny and am grateful for the commitment of the Syariah Justice Department and the respective states who are doing their best to coordinate this matter in each state," he said.
As a legal practitioner, he hopes that an immediate amendment to the Islamic Religious Administration Act/Enactment or the State Syariah Court Enactment can be expedited to upgrade the hierarchy of the Syariah Court from three levels to four levels as in Perak.
He also hoped for amendments to the State Syariah Court's Property Procedure Act/Enactment, which is the amendment to the wakalah pronouncement procedure without having to be done in front of the Court or the registrar; hearing through long-distance telecommunications technology; written evidence as well as the Chief Syariah Judge's Instruction to implement provisions in the Enactment and others as implemented by Selangor in the amendment to the Syariah Court Property Procedure Enactment (Amendment 2022).
"The time has come for department to take over the responsibility of being the secretariat to amend this law as well as other related laws. As legal practitioners we hope that the Syariah Court will not only pursue key performance indicators (KPI) of solved cases instead of upholding justice," he said.