KLRCA TO ACTIVELY PROMOTE ISLAMIC ARBITRATION GLOBALLY

By Nurul Jannah Kamaruddin & Martina Amira Azam
KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) - The Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for
Arbitration (KLRCA) is making robust efforts to expand its role in promoting
Islamic arbitration globally and will launch Islamic arbitration rules to cover
other sectors such as construction and maritime.

Currently, the centre serves as a platform to deal with cases involving
Islamic banking and finance, takaful, Islamic development financial business,
Islamic capital market products or services, and other transaction business
based on syariah principles.

KLRCA director, Sundra Rajoo, said the centre would develop a generic set of
Islamic arbitration rules to enable it to have a competitive advantage over
other arbitration centres in the world.

"We believe there is great potential for KLRCA and Malaysia to become a
global Islamic banking and finance dispute resolution hub that is both
syariah-compliant and of international standard.

"We are in constant consultation with the relevant stakeholders, including
Bank Negara Malaysia (Malaysia's central bank) and the International Syariah
Research Academy for Islamic Finance, to develop these new rules," he told
Bernama in an interview.

He said the new rules were expected to be launched next year and would be
marketed globally, a move to further position Malaysia as among the top
destinations for disputing parties to seek arbitration as well as a renowned
business centre.

Sundra said the KLRCA was poised for future growth as it would be the first
arbitration institution in the world to have a new set of rules.

"We are also looking to hire a Syariah law expert to help us develop the new
rules, which will enable us to have the competitive advantage over other
arbitration centres in the world," he said.

He said as the businesses were increasingly exploring alternative dispute
resolution mechanisms, such as arbitration, and moving away from the traditional
approach of litigation via the courts, the new set of rules would complement the
existing arbitration rules of Kuala Lumpur Regional Centre for Arbitration
(Islamic Banking and Financial Services) 2007, which were currently being
revised for improvement.

The revised rules would be launched in 2012, he said.

"We will play a different role and promote the rules of law worldwide with
our own identity. When we have all in place, we target more people will come and
arbitrate in Malaysia," he said.

The centre, with over 600 local and international arbitrators with various
expertise and qualifications, managed over 70 cases last year, he said.

The centre had also been appointed the official conference host and
secretariat of the 4th Asia Pacific Regional Arbitration Group (APRAG) general
meeting and conference from July 9-10 here.

Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Malaysia, Zaki Azmi, will officiate
the conference.

Over 350 delegates, comprising arbitrators, the legal fraternity and members
of the construction, financial services and commodities trading companies from
the region and beyond would attend the conference.

The APRAG 2011, themed, "International Arbitration in a Challenging Region",
aims to improve the standards and knowledge of international, commercial and
investment arbitration.