Proceed as planned

On 21 March 2011, my ex-wife filed an application at the Mahkamah Rendah Syariah Daerah Petaling to declare my previous marriage with her null and void. She argued that this would have an impact on the child custody proceedings as Section 86 of Enakmen Undang Undang Keluarga Islam (Negeri Selangor) 2003 states that the custody of illegitimate children goes to the mother and the mother's family.

On 6 April 2011, she filed an application to suspend all existing proceedings at the Mahkamah Tinggi Syariah Selangor di Shah Alam and Mahkamah Rendah Syariah Daerah Bandaraya Shah Alam until her application to declare our previous marriage null and void is concluded.

Since then

1. The child custody bicara or hearing has been put on hold
2. The nusyuz bicara has also been put on hold
3. The kes harta sepencarian (matrimonial assets) case management has been put on hold
4. All other ongoing case proceedings have been delayed

New mention dates were set for all the above cases.

Monday 27 June 2011, was the case mention for child custody, harta sepencarian, application to vary the existing interim custody order and the application to suspend all existing cases.

The above cases were called at approximately 9:40am. It rained that morning, hence everyone was late. I was the only one present.

I stood before the Honourable Judge and informed him that my legal counsel should be up shortly as he was downstairs at the parking lot. I told the Honourable Judge that I was prepared to either have the case called again or to proceed with the mention.

The Honourable Judge asked if I had any statements to make. This was my oppurtunity. I was on air!

I notified that Honourable Judge that my ex-wife had filed an application to suspend all case proceedings. It was only an application, and not a Court Order. Therefore, it was unreasonable to suspend all the case proceedings just because my ex-wife had filed the application.

I also informed that Honourable Judge that I had filed the harta sepencarian case 9 months ago. However my ex-wife had not even filed in her pembelaan or defence despite being repeatedly ordered to do so during the last 3 mention dates. Similarly, for my application to vary the interim custody order, my ex-wife had failed to file in her affidavit jawapan over the past 5 months. I made known to the Honourable Judge my regret for such unreasonable delays.

After hearing my complaints, the Honourable Judge decided to retime the mention and wait for my lawyer.

By the time the case was recalled at 10:45am, my legal counsel, my ex-wife and her legal counsel had arrived. My legal counsel repeated what I said to the Honourable Judge, adding that my ex-wife should be given a warning to enter her defence/file in her affidavits by the next mention date, and for the child custody hearing to continue.

My ex-wife's legal counsel objected to it on grounds that such proceedings may be just a waste of time.

The Honourable Judge then decided that

1. The child custody hearing is to continue
2. Both parties are to file in their hujjah for the application to suspend all case proceedings
3. A new mention date is to be set for the remaning two cases

I was relieved. I was not only relieved that the delays have been averted, but I was glad that there was some form of justice. Justice in the sense that the cases were not unreasonably delayed without a proper court order.