(Borneo Post; April 30th, 2003)

KUCHING: The use of Information Communications Technology (ICT) can help the Syariah Court to clear up its backlog cases promptly. The implementation of ICT will ease administration and trials conducted in the courts.

State Secretary Datuk Amar Haji Abdul Aziz Husain said." We have heard of complaints that there have been delays in cases due to inefficient management in the courts," he said when officiating at the E-Syariah Conference here yesterday.

Aziz said it remained a challenge which needed to be addressed with full commitment and dedication by those concerned. "We must try to improve the image of the Syariah Court," he said, adding that electronic networking could assist in the process.

Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS) has been assigned as the project implementer for the E-Syariah while KPMG Sdn Bhd will act as its management consultant. E-Syariah is being developed nationwide through several phases and Sarawak is the pioneering state to do so.

This is because it was started in 1996 in Kuching in the Syariah Court as an Electronic Court System known as SEMak.

It was later extended to other areas in the State, with the last at Samarahan Division in 1999.

At the end of 1998, the SEMak system was adopted by the Federal Syariah Court in Kuala Lumpur which became the prototype for the E-Syariah system launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad in Putra Jaya last February.

Later, speaking to reporters, Aziz who is also the managing director of SAINS, said it would expand its infrastructure connection of the Sarawak Net service to remote places.

"We are looking at the various technologies, including broadband wireless, which can accommodate higher capacity and also satellite transmission to cover a wider area," he said.

He said the broadband wireless might be considered to service towns such as Mukah and Dalat, while other remote areas such as Ba'Kelalan and Bario would use satellite transmission. "We are not firm on this yet so I would not be able to tell you how much it will cost," he said.

At the same time, he noted that the usage of ICT by smaller medium scale industries was still low compared to other countries in the region. "The level of usage of ICT especially those outside Kuching is low probably due to the fact that they are not aware of it and secondly they don't have connection or facilities," he said.

He said the long term objective of setting up SAINS was not only for the government but also the private sector. "We are looking not only at the e-government for the civil servants but also to connect to the public and private sectors, where there are many things that we would like to expand in this area," he said.

He said there were still opportunities to explore by connecting the government and the people with businesses.

He said SAINS was also expanding outside Sarawak and E-Syariah was among the first project that had been successfully implemented nationwide.

SAINS also had other applications which could be used not only in Sarawak but also throughout Malaysia and marketed to other countries, he added.

Present at the opening were Federal Secretary Isa Kassim, chairman of Sarawak Islamic Council Datu Putit Matzen and Syariah High Court Judge Sam Ojeh.