The Role of the Mahkamah Syar’iyah within the Framework of the Integrated Justice System in Indonesia

Abstract

The shifting paradigm of Indonesia’s judicial governance toward an Integrated Justice System (IJS) demands a systemic unification across all law enforcement subsystems to ensure legal certainty, justice, and social utility. While conventional IJS models primarily focus on mainstream institutions like the police, prosecutors, courts, and correctional facilities, the unique status of the Mahkamah Syar'iyah in Aceh Province introduces distinctive complexities due to its dual jurisdictional nature—handling both Islamic civil matters and jinayat (Islamic criminal law). This study aims to analyze the legal standing and operational role of the Mahkamah Syar'iyah within the national IJS framework and to formulate a strategic strengthening model to foster an effective and equitable integrated judiciary. Using a normative legal research method with statute and conceptual approaches, this study examines primary legal materials, including the newly amended Aceh Qanun No. 12 of 2025. The results indicate that the Mahkamah Syar'iyah serves as a sui generis judicial anchor that integrates local lex specialis sharia regulations with national criminal justice principles, acting as a vital guardian of the due process model. To overcome institutional silos and modern procedural bottlenecks, this paper proposes the Holistic Systemic Integration Model (HSIM). This model advances three core strategies: codifying progressive evidentiary standards to align with national victim protection frameworks, establishing the Integrated Mahkamah Syar'iyah Coordination Forum (FKMST) to institutionalize multi-stakeholder networking, and deploying technological interoperability through data bridging between the judicial case tracking system (SIPP) and national law enforcement databases (SPPT-TI). Ultimately, this integrated framework reorients judicial outcomes from purely retributive punishments toward comprehensive, transformative-restorative justice.