(Eastern Times; May 27, 2008)

PUTRAJAYA: The Malaysian Government and Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd (SAINS) recently signed an agreement to jointly promote and market E-Syariah System overseas.

The Chief Secretary to the Government appointed the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) to represent the Government of Malaysia for the signing of the agreement.

According to the Secretary-General of MOSTI, Y.Bhg Dato’ Abdul Hanan Alang Endut, the E-Syariah System has been successfully implemented in Malaysia and the commercialisation of E-Syariah System in the international market will further promote Malaysia’s image worldwide as a significant player in the field of Information and Communications Technology (ICT).

Dato’ Abdul Hanan disclosed this during the signing ceremony of agreement with SAINS held in PutraJaya on 21 May 2008, following the opening of the 16th World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT May 18-22, 2008) - a global ICT forum billed as the Olympics of ICT.

Also present at the ceremony was representatives from Syariah Judicial Department of Malaysia (JKSM), MAMPU, Road Transport Department (JPJ), National Registration Department (JPN) and Audit Department.

E-Syariah is the project undertaken by the Syariah Judicial Department of Malaysia (JKSM). It is an integrated case management system that monitors all processes involved in the handling of Syariah Court’s cases. Electronic networks linking the State Syariah Courts with JKSM in PutraJaya and related agencies have been set up for the purpose of coordinating and sharing of information through the E-Syariah system.

The E-Syariah project greatly improved the management of court cases nationwide and raised the standard of government delivery system. The enhanced management and improved communication benefited judges, lawyers, court administrators and the court users.

There are in total 106 Syariah Courts in 102 locations in the whole of Malaysia that have been installed with this system. Installation works for the computer system and the implementation of the applications were carried out in stages from 2002 to 2005.

E-Syariah has won numerous awards since. The most recent was in November 2007 where E-Syariah System was awarded the Prime Minister Top ICT Quality Award for Public Sector. Prior to that, in July 2006, the E-Syariah System was named the best Electronic Government MSC Flagship Application.

In 2005, E-Syariah clinched second place for electronic government portal in a Benchmarking and Comparative study of more than 900 Malaysia Government portals and websites conducted by Multimedia Development Cooperation, in which the judges were experts from United States and Japan. In 2003, E-Syariah was selected by MAMPU to represent Malaysia in the World Summit Information Society & ICT for Development Platform in Geneva, Switzerland.