A meeting yesterday between Sisters in Islam (SIS) and the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) went very well and enabled the former to explain the objectives of its work, according to SIS executive director Zainah Anwar.

The meeting was excellent considering that we have never had a meeting with Jakim director-general Mohd Shahir Abdullah, said Zainah who was present at the meeting with three other SIS members.

We explained to them about our mission and vision, our objectives and the programmes that we carry out, she told malaysiakini .

It was reported in the New Straits Times today that the SIS members met with Shahir during a three-hour meeting at the latters office in Putrajaya.

Zainah said the meeting resulted from a request made by the Conference of Rulers to the National Islamic Affairs Committee to investigate a Feb 4 memorandum by the Muslim Scholars Association of Malaysia (PUM) urging for action against several individuals said to have insulted Islam in their writings.

Those named in the memorandum are Zainah, malaysiakini and NST columnist Dr Farish A Noor, former The Sun columnist Akhbar Ali, writer Kassim Ahmad, Universiti Malaya researcher Dr Patricia Martinez and lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar.

The Conference of Rulers had referred the matter to the National Islamic Affairs Committee which is to come up with a report on the matter. Jakim is responsible for producing this report, she explained.

Consider womens views

Zainah also said SIS submitted a memorandum to Jakim in response to charges made against her and her organisation in the PUM memorandum.

We asked for Jakim to take into consideration womens experience and opinion when making decisions on matters pertaining to Islamic affairs, she said.

When questioned how Jakim viewed the meeting, Zainah said the officials present had said they welcomed the feedback garnered from the discussions.

They have also asked us to submit to them reports on our work in promoting the rights of women within the framework of Islam and the syariah system, she added.

Meanwhile, other individuals who have been identified in the PUM memorandum are said to be scheduled to meet with Jakim over the matter. However, they could not be reached for confirmation.