shariah enforcement in malaysia

In 2006, I led a team of researchers conducting a research on issues pertaining to shariah enforcement and prosecution of shariah offences in Malaysia and Brunei. This research focuses on problems and challenges facing the enforcement unit and also the shariah prosecution unit when dealing with the enforcement of shariah offences in Malaysia and Brunei. Some of the research findings were presented during the National Convention on the Enforcement of Shariah Law in Malaysia on the 17th and 18th December 2007 in Kota Kinabalu Sabah. Among the issues highlighted during the convention is lack of standard operating procedure despite the fact that we have the shariah criminal procedure code. It is something that is lacking and create a problem when it comes to enforcing the law. Without proper SOP, we can always see the discrepancy of action and lack of standardisation. Another issue touched by myselfduring the convention is on the training aspect. It is obvious that new officers are not well-trained. However, we are made to understand that JAKIM has already come out with a moduleof training soon to be implemented through ILIM. Hopefully some improvement will be seen soon.