GEORGE TOWN, Feb 22 — The setting up of the Malaysian Syariah Prosecution Department (JPSM) is a positive development, especially in separating the roles and responsibilities of enforcement agencies from the prosecution.

Penang Mufti Datuk Seri Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor said that it could end the overlapping of powers between the Islamic Religious Department and the Shariah courts.

He said that the establishment of JPSM at the federal level would not encroach state powers and would not alter the powers and functions of the State Syariah Chief Prosecutor as outlined in the State Islamic Religious Affairs Enactment.

"JPSM should have been established long ago to facilitate and expedite the management of cases brought forward by the Muslim community for resolution by the Shariah Court,” he said when contacted today.

Yesterday, the media reported that the government would establish JPSM in an effort to strengthen the Shariah legal ecosystem in the country.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs), Zulkifli Hasan, was reported to have said that the process of establishing JPSM was currently in the discussion stage.

He was reported as saying that the government was committed to systematically and regularly empowering Shariah legislations, including through the proposed amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965 (Bill 355). — Bernama