Syariah court to have more bite

(NST) PUTRAJAYA: The notion by some that syariah legislation is ineffective in curbing breach of Islamic laws is about to change.

Yesterday, efforts to empower the syariah court and give it more clout began with a seminar on whipping for syariah crimes.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Maj-Gen (R) Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom said along with measures to empower the syariah courts, efforts would also focus on enhancing the effectiveness of religious enforcement agencies.

The main focus of these efforts, he said, was to ensure that the implementation of whipping as a punishment under syariah would be carried out flawlessly.

Islamic laws in the country allowed for a maximum caning of up to six strokes of the rotan for offences including falsifying doctrines, sodomy, illicit sex and incest.

However, with the exception of Kelantan, no other state had seen the punishment being meted out, although in January, the Kuantan Syariah High Court ruled that two people be slapped with the maximum fine of RM5,000 and whipped six times.

"The perception is that punishments meted out by the syariah court are too light and most of the time only apply to fines and never whipping.

"That is the contributing factor to the increase in syariah-related crimes each year, as the people think the laws are too trivial.

"Despite efforts carried out by various parties to curb immoral conduct, the problem has not been arrested," he said after opening the seminar here.

Jamil, however, said any changes to the system would depend on the outcome of a study that was being conducted by the Syariah and Civil Laws Technical Committee, under the Islamic Development Department (Jakim).

Also present were Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr Mashitah Ibrahim and Jakim director-general Datuk Wan Mohamad Sheikh Abdul Aziz.