FSH News, South Jakarta Religious Court – Thursday, June 13, 2024. As part of the ongoing agenda for the Student Mobility program, Universiti Malaya, in collaboration with the Faculty of Sharia and Law at UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta, conducted a visit to the South Jakarta Religious Court.

The purpose of this visit was to learn about the religious judicial system in Indonesia. The South Jakarta Religious Court was chosen because it is often a benchmark for many judicial institutions, universities, and other religious social organizations due to its significant quality and quantity of cases handled. The students were welcomed by several judges and public relations officers representing the Chairperson of the South Jakarta Religious Court, who was unable to attend due to an official duty.

Representing the Malaysian delegation, Prof. Zubaidah Ismail explained the rationale behind choosing UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta and the South Jakarta Religious Court as the institutions to visit. She highlighted the strong correlation between the judicial and Islamic educational systems of both institutions.

During the visit, students actively asked questions about the court's absolute jurisdiction and the daily case volume. Court officials explained that the South Jakarta Religious Court holds absolute jurisdiction as stipulated in Law No. 50 of 2019 on Religious Courts, with Islamic personal law serving as the basis for its authority. The court handles matters including marriage, inheritance, wills, endowments, zakat, infaq, sadaqah, and Islamic economic disputes.

Following the welcoming ceremony, students were guided through the procedural stages before a court session and visited several key areas within the court, such as the mediation room, PTSP (Integrated Services Office), and the courtroom for observation purposes. The visit concluded with a religious tourism trip to the Istiqlal Mosque and its surroundings.[AFA]