KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 11 ― Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) today suggested the formation of a special court comprising Shariah and civil court judges tasked to hear interfaith custody cases, saying this could solve the current “vacuum in the system”.

Amanah communications director Khalid Samad said that setting up such a court would finally put an end to the jurisdictional dispute between the country’s two legal systems when it comes to handling such matters.

“Both the justice systems can sit down together and trash out a solution for this,” Khalid told a press conference at Amanah’s headquarters today.

“We often have the Muslim convert spouse going to Syariah court and the non-Muslim spouse going to civil courts. And we have to recognise both their rights,” he pointed out.

Yesterday, the Federal Court ruled that the civil court should be the final arbiter in matters involving divorce and custody in civil marriages. The apex court made the ruling when awarding split custody to Hindu mother S. Deepa and her Muslim convert ex-husband Izwan Abdullah.

“There is a vacuum in the existing system and as such, we need a review to be conducted,” Khalid said.

“The Syariah Court tends to listen to only the converted spouse's argument and the civil court tends to listen to only the non converted spouse's argument. So we need a balance,” he added.

Khalid also said that neither court’s decision should be regarded as superior to the other.

“There seems to be an argument as to which court is more powerful to decide such matters. So the best solution is (for them) to sit down together,” he added.