Syariah practitioners at a conference challenged critics of the country's Syariah court system to prove claims that painstaking delay in divorce settlements are among the chief characteristics of the courts.

Contrary to public perception, studies show that the bulk of divorce cases are settled within a year of being filed at the Syariah courts, said the speakers during a forum yesterday on 'The Right to an Expeditious and Fair Trial' organised by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) in Kuala Lumpur.

After presenting detailed statistics, Chief Syariah judge Sheikh Ghazali Abdul Rahman in the session on 'Delays, Consequences and Remedies: Syariah Courts' told participants that only 10 percent of divorce cases were settled more than one year after being filed.

"It can be summarised... that 90% of divorce cases (of the types applied in court and those confirming divorce pronouncements made outside of court) were settled in six months. More than 60% of divorce cases (initiated or applied by women) are settled within six months and below," said Ghazali in his paper.

"What is clear from the tables shown, the cases that were settled in excess of one year are very small in percentage," he added.

'Courts not to blame for delays'

Clarifying that Syariah courts had also been wrongly blamed for those divorce cases that had been delayed, Ghazali noted that 37% of such cases stemmed from plaintiffs or defendants failing to attend hearing, followed by 23.5% due to problems of the summons not reaching the parties concerned.

The next 18.2% of delayed divorce cases were caused by mistakes in issuing notices, problems with witnesses, incomplete documentation, and problems between plaintiffs and defendants, he added.

Similarly, Prof Noor Aziah Mohd Awal from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia at the end of her paper conceded that a large majority (80%) cases in Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, are settled within 12 months from the date of the cases being filed."

The blame for the delays, according to Noor Aziah, include but do not lie particularly with the Syariah courts themselves as there was a general problem with 'understaffing.'

This in turn is made worse by the "unnecessary bureacracy" of waiting for appointments from the public services department (JPA), she added.

"Syariah courts do not have enough staff - this can be seen in the Syariah Subordinate Court of Shah Alam where there are only four staff to handle about 500 divorce cases every year. Appointments of new staffs are rather slow due to unnecessary bureacracy," said Noor Aziah in her paper.

'Assembly line justice'

Syariah lawyer Sulaiman Abdullah, however, cautioned on the perceived need to 'fast-track' the process of settling divorce cases as this would lead to problems currently faced by civil courts.

While Syariah courts used to handle only five or six cases daily and deal with each case "on its own merits", which allowed for flexibility in addressing postponements and amicable settlements, Sulaiman expressed alarm at the prevalent march towards "assembly line justice."

"Something like 35 cases are fixed before the Shah Alam Syariah High Court while the Kuala Lumpur Syariah High Court fixes over 20 cases per day. In the lower courts, the situation is even worse. One lower Syariah Court in Kuala Lumpur had over 60 cases fixed for one day," he said.

"It leads to a harried staff in the courts. Files go missing. Assembly line justice invarably will become the norm. Loquacious litigants will be given short shrift. Cases will be stretched out if parties are late or absent.

"This is the normal situation in many civil courts. Do we need to replicate this in the Syariah courts?" Sulaiman asked.

Sulaiman also reiterated Noor Aziah's argument in blaming government bureaucrats for treating the needs of the Syariah court system as something of "low priority".

"The resulting vacancies, particularly of judges, causes endless delays in cases. This is because of the cumbersome bureaucracy involved which takes ages to move.

"Thus in Kuala Lumpur, for example, once a candidate has been sourced, the JPA has to approve, the minister of religious affairs in the Prime Minister's department has to sign, and finally the King has to sign the appointment.

"And the impression given is that matters relating to the Syariah courts are of low priority and always pushed to the bottom of the pile."

Recipe for disaster

Further contributing, says Sulaiman, to the delay of divorce settlements was the practice of lay Muslims entering legal Syariah proceedings with a 'do-it-yourself' approach without benefit of legal council.

"Another factor that causes delay in the Syariah courts is that everybody thinks he is an expert in Islamic law. Thus, many litigants venture into Syariah courts on the most complicated issues in person. This is a recipe for delay and disaster," said Sulaiman.

"And yet, fingers are readily pointed at the Syariah court for that disaster. Make no mistake: you would be ill-advised to start proceedings in a civil court without a lawyer. The position is no different in a Syariah court," he added.

Given the weaknesses in the system, Suleiman said these were mostly "external" to the system and could only be resolved through corrective efforts by bureaucrats and elected leaders.

"Most of those weaknesses are caused by bureaucracy, prejudice and inertia or lethargy on the part of the civil service bureaucracy and politicians. These are external to the Syariah court system and the system is working very hard to overcome the weaknesses," he said.