(The Star; May 22, 2007)

DIVORCES are painful. And, they are further exacerbated when you have a difficult partner. Common causes of divorces include poor communication, financial problems, infidelity, sexual problems and differences in culture.

The quality of a couple’s pre-marital relationship can be a good indicator of how their marriage will go. Many problems that develop before marriage and are not resolved don’t disappear. These problems often escalate.

Divorce can be traumatising and things get harder when court dates are postponed. In Malaysia, the Jabatan Kehakiman Syariah Malaysia (JKSM) oversees and coordinates the activities of all syariah courts in the country’s 14 states.

The department has been around for eight years and oversees the standard practices in all syariah courts.

“Prior to this, syariah courts were state matters, with varying methods,” says Hasib Mansor, IT director of JKSM.

“We’ve managed to standardise procedures across the board.”

From 2005, e-syariah, an online portal for the public and court users, was introduced to simplify court matters and to ease divorce proceedings.

“When you register online, you’ll be given a number, and the registrar will allocate a judge to your case. Through this portal, the public can check on court dates and updates at home, instead of having to make the trip to the court,” says Hasib.

E-syariah not only makes things easier for the public, it means less work for the court as well. Less time spent at the counter and standardised documentation bodes well for better reference.

“Before e-syariah, there were a total of 185 different documents, but since we took over, we’ve cut it down to 38 forms that covers all syariah matters,” says Hasib.

In fact, speedy cases seem to be the agenda these days. Since e-syariah’s debut, there have been more appointment of judges, to ensure cases proceed fast.

“In 2009, we intend to hold video-conferencing in courts, because 38% of our proceedings cannot continue due to the plaintiff or defendant not being able to come,” continues Hasib.

Efforts by the e-Syariah team have indeed been recognised as Brunei has voiced an interest in purchasing the system.