RESOLVING JURISDICTIONAL DILEMMA IN RECENT RELIGIOUS DISPUTES BY LEGAL MECHANISMS

Abstract

The duality of the Malaysian legal system has resulted in an ongoing jurisdictional conflict between the Civil Court and Syariah Court throughout the years. A jurisdictional dilemma will usually occur in the case of religious contention on Islamic matters when one of the parties initiates legal action in a Civil Court instead of a Syariah Court, which has jurisdictional power pertaining to Islamic law. Due to issues raised in recent religion-related disputes, the objective of this paper is to study how to resolve jurisdictional friction between the two courts by discussing the development of juristic approaches when clashes of jurisdiction are involved. Specifically, the jurisdictional dilemma will be critically analysed based on recent, selected court cases concerning religious dispute. Thus, the authors have adopted descriptive, analytical and doctrinal legal methods for the purpose of discussing the issue. At the end of this paper, suggestions on practical solutions to avoid further conflict in the future by using legal mechanisms available will also be appraised.