Sabah to have Syariah Court complex, says DG
Published on: Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Papar: Sabah will get a new Sabah Syariah Judicial Department headquarters when a project to build a Sabah Syariah Court Complex at Likas Bay, which is expected to begin its construction in August this year, is completed.Syariah Judicial Department Director-General Tan Sri Ibrahim Lembut, who disclosed this, said the Federal-funded RM67.8 million project would be constructed on a land next to the City Mosque at Likas Bay that will take several years to be completed.He said the project which has been tendered out was delayed few years back due to technical issues that involved building underground cables for power supply for the complex.
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"Initially, the project could not be carried out due to technical problems which we have explained to the State government via the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman."Musa was not pleased to hear such delay in building the complex but we have related to him that the existing technical problems need to be addressed first before it can be constructed."We are serious about building such facility for Syariah Courts in the country including Sabah to be in line with the effort to uplift the image of the Islamic judiciary," he said.Ibrahim said this to reporters in conjunction with his special working visit to the Papar Syariah Court here on Tuesday.
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Also present were Sabah Land Development Board (SLDB) Chairman cum Pantai Manis assemblyman Datuk Seri Abdul Rahim Ismail, Sabah Syarie Chief Judge Datuk Jasri Mat Jakir, Syariah Appeal Court Judge Datuk Dr Md Yusop Che and other senior officials.According to Jasri, the upcoming project will feature three Lower Syariah courts, two Syariah High Courts and one Appeal Syariah Hall as well as a meeting hall, rooms for court registrar and senior officers, a library and an IT centre, among others.
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Apart from building the complex, Ibrahim who is also Malaysia Syarie Chief Judge said the department has also built Syariah courts in Semporna, Keningau, Beaufort, Lahad Datu and Kinabatangan.The latest project, he said, will be a Syariah Court building in Papar involving a cost of RM22 million on a two-acre land next to the district mosque here."We have applied for RM22 million from the Federal government to construct the Syariah Court building here and the construction would take about 24 months."The scope of building the upcoming court here would provide two court rooms, judges' rooms, IT room, and parking bays, among others," he said.Meanwhile, Rahim said the two-acre site for the project here is classified as riparian reserve but was optimistic the project could be carried out at the site due to its significance and interests of the Muslim community here."We thank the Syariah Judicial Department for its efforts to build a Syariah Court building here which we have been longing for."Actually this project which we have longed for has been delayed due to 'Little Napoleons' in certain departments involved in the project.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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