Act 355 draft amendments to enter state-level discussions next year

The latest draft amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, known as Act 355, will be presented for state-level discussions by early next year before tabled in parliament.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister Department Ahmad Marzuk Shaary said the discussion process will be led by a civil and syariah law technical committee from the Islamic Affairs Department (Jakim), as the body tasked to draft the amendments.

He said the government had on Aug 16 appointed a new set of technical committee members comprising experts in syariah and civil law and a series of meetings were held to come up with the current draft amendments.