The announcement of (Muslim) women as Syariah Court judges in Malaysia is making a repeat performance. The present announcement by Abdul Hamid Othman, religious advisor to the prime minister on Aug 8 is hailed as part of Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's Islam Hadhari plan.

Political secretary to the Internal Security Minister, Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh, said as much when he said that the appointments are 'in line with the bigger picture created by Islam Hadhari '.

My own records show that Abdul Hamid first raised the possibility of appointing women to the Syariah Court bench at the 1999 Umno General Assembly. He was then a minister in the prime minister's department. Nothing was moved beyond that announcement. This time around, we are given to understand that Pak Lah's Islam Hadhari will deliver.

My first foray on this issue was in 1991. I was invited by Dr Wazir Jahan Karim of the Women and Human Resources Unit of Universiti Sains Malaysia to present a paper on the appointment of women judges in the Syariah Courts in Malaysia.

It may be that this paper has been circulated, quoted, borrowed or recycled over the years, as the fact of Indonesia having a hundred Ibu-Ibu Hakim , as was noted in that paper, is still quoted ad verbatim in local press and by local women's groups, twelve years on!