KUALA LUMPUR: Authorities in charge of syariah law need to look for a solution to reduce the trial period for Syariah Court cases, says Datuk Dr Mohd Na'im Mokhtar.
The Minister in Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) said there were concerns that injustice among parties involved would occur due to the long wait for a case to be settled.
"So the Malaysia Syariah Judiciary Department, the Syariah Court, and Syariah lawyers need to look for ideas on how to shorten the duration for completing a case.
"The longer a case drags on, there will be injustice for parties involved. So we need to ensure the goal is the same. We need to be smart and balance how to speed up cases but at the same time, not prejudice issues," he said when launching the Free Syarie Consultation Programme in conjunction with Ramadan 1444H at the Kuala Lumpur Syariah Court complex on Tuesday (March 14).
On guidelines for politicians to hold talks at mosques, he said the matter was within the jurisdiction of the state government and at Federal level such as the Islamic Development Department (Jakim), would only coordinate.
On the consultation programme, Mohd Na'im sid the initiative, implmented by the Syariah Legal Assistance Centre (Bagus), was the best approach in providing consultative services to the B40 group and was capable of reducing the rising rate of divorce cases.
He said the programme also aimed to ensure all Muslims in the country had access to justice even if they were from the lower-income group.
"It is also part of the service by the Syariah Lawyers Association of Malaysia (PGSM) for the Mulsim community in the country, in line with their expertise," he added.
The consultation programme will be held from March 27 to April 20 from 10am to 1pm from Mondays to Thursdays at the Bagus-PGSM operations room in all states involved, including Melaka, Perak, Penang, Kelantan and Kedah. – Bernama
