Poor Jawi literacy leads to lack of syariah lawyers

The matter of Jawi proficiency: Mohd Fared giving his reply to a question on syariah lawyers at the Dewan Undangan Negeri at Bangunan Sultan Ismail in Kota Iskandar. — Bernama

ISKANDAR PUTERI: Lack of proficiency in reading Jawi is one of the reasons why there are so few syariah lawyers in Johor, says state Islamic religious affairs committee chairman Mohd Fared Mohd Khalid.

He said last year, 87 candidates sat for the syariah law written exam, but only one passed.

“One of the factors is that candidates were found to be slow in reading the written exam questions, which are prepared in Jawi, and not understanding the requirements of the questions.

“Another reason is candidates wrongly referring to the provisions of the law during the exam – for example, using the Islamic law of another state while the exam is about the law of Johor,” he told the state assembly sitting at Bangunan Sultan Ismail in Kota Iskandar here yesterday.

He was replying to Rashidah Ismail (BN-Pasir Raja), who had wanted to know the reasons why a low number of syariah lawyers were taken in in the state despite the high number of applicants.

Mohd Fared added that to address the issue and ensure there would be quality syariah lawyers in the state, the Johor Islamic Religious Council (MAIJ) had taken the initiative to make improvements by writing last year’s questions as a reference for exam candidates.

He said those interested in getting the book would be able to buy it via a medium to be announced soon.

MAIJ, he added, suggested to the Johor Syariah Lawyers Association that it organise an exam preparation course for candidates in the state.

MAIJ has determined that candidates must score at least 60% in the written exam to qualify for the interview stage.

“As for the interview stage, candidates need to score 80% to pass and the evaluation score will be presented before the syariah lawyers committee.

“If the committee approves, then the eligible candidates’ names will be put forward in the syariah lawyers committee meeting to obtain the appointment confirmation,” he said.

According to Mohd Fared, there are currently 192 syariah lawyers who have received the Syariah Lawyer Certificate and Syarie Legal Practice Certificate to practise in the Johor Syariah Court.