Sisters in Islam, a Muslim women's rights movement, is sceptical over the recent announcement that legally-qualified women would be appointed as syariah court judges.

Contacted yesterday, SIS legal advisor Nora Murat said it remains to be seen whether the words would be translated into action".

She said last year the same person, the prime minister's religious advisor Abdul Hamid Othman, had made a similar statement.

"What we want is for such statements to be turned into reality. I've been hearing the same thing since last year and nothing has changed," she said.

"It is inexcusable to cite the reason that qualified women cannot be found (to become syariah judges). It only shows the lack of judicial will."

On Sunday, Abdul Hamid had reiterated his announcement regarding the appointment of women syariah judges.

He reportedly said that religious councils would be forwarding candidates' names soon but no deadline was stipulated.

No excuse

Nora said the appointment of women as syariah court judges, as is the practice in Sudan, Indonesia, Tunisia and Egypt, has been debated for over a decade without any progress.

"Currently, many syariah law graduates are women. So, there is no excuse not to consider elevating women jurists to judicial posts," she said.

"At a function last year, Syariah Judicial Department Director-General Sheikh Ghazali Abdul Rahman told us that syariah law graduates, among others, would be considered for the positions."

However, Sheikh Ghazali could not be reached for comment.

Last week, The New Straits Times quoted Internal Security Minister's political secretary Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh as saying that plans were underway to make the appointments, in line with the bigger picture created by Islam Hadhari.

State religious councils, which directly handle all religious matters, would recommend candidates for appointment by the respective heads of state.

Abdul Hamid said judicial and legal service officers, court registrars or arbitration officers could well become potential candidates.

This would include judicial diploma holders from the International Islamic University of Malaysia and Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, he said, adding that the Quran does not bar women from becoming judges.

Attitude problem

Former Universiti Malaya Islamic Studies Academy director Prof Mahmud Zuhdi Abd Majid, who welcomed the move, however, cautioned against having high expectations from women syariah court judges.

"There may not be drastic changes in the outcome of cases following the appointment of women as syariah judges because the problem in the system is one of attitude," he told malaysiakini.

He said the issue was not so much on gender but about the general mindset within the syariah system.

"Conservative views are prevalent among religious scholars in the country regardless of whether they are men or women.

"So, it is best not to expect an immediate change (in the outcome of cases) because common attitude of those within the system will have to change but only over a period of time."

Mahmud believes that regardless of who hears custody cases or marital matters, the result will still be the same.

"In the short-term, they (women judges) may not be able to resolve issues of prejudice against women but in the long-term they may be able to gradually change their own mindset and that of their male colleagues," he explained.

Reduce criticisms

He said the problem of low self-confidence also hampered the process of appointing women as syariah judges.

"This may come as a surprise but I have been told that despite advertising for the posts, no one had applied.

"Maybe one reason is that potential candidates were not confident enough about the task ahead. This may have been compounded by doubts expressed by religious leaders over their ability to handle complex, emotional cases, especially where children are involved."

The professor said he has always advocated for women to be appointed as syariah judges since the mid-80s.

"I know that the present system is too prejudiced against women when they can be as good a leader as their male counterparts. That is why I've also been trying to push for the appointments."

To illustrate the extent of the capabilities of the fairer sex, Mahmud cited the example of women leaders who had ruled Aceh as an Islamic government for decades.

He said appointing women as syariah judges would also help reduce the criticism leveled against male judges as the system slowly becomes more sensitive towards women.