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Ministry of Culture, Community & Youth
Press Statements

Serving the community through the administration of Muslim family law

Sectors

Community

12 January 2018

Singapore's first female Syariah Court registrar retires after more than a decade in the service

  1. The Syariah Court (SYC), which is part of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, offers its deepest appreciation to Mdm Animah Abdul Gani, 70, for her dedicated service as its registrar. Mdm Animah will step down from her post with effect from 13 January 2018.

  2. Mdm Shahrinah Abdol Salam, 39, who is the current deputy registrar, will be the new registrar on 13 January 2018. She will be appointed concurrently as ad-hoc president for a two-year term.

  3. Mdm Masayu Norashikin Mohamad Amin, 41, will take over Mdm Shahrinah's portfolio as the new deputy registrar. Previously, she was a District Judge and an Assistant Registrar at the Family Justice Courts.

  4. Mdm Animah started her career at the Attorney-General's Chambers after graduating from the University of Singapore in 1972. She rose through the ranks and retired from Legal Service on 1 November 2000. Post-retirement, she set up a law firm to be in private practice. In May 2007, she became SYC's first female registrar and its third since the post was created in 1999.1

  5. During her tenure, she was instrumental in overseeing changes made in the 2008 Administration of Muslim Law amendments.  In a private event held on 11 January 2018 to honour her contributions, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs, made the following remarks, “Mdm Animah has had a long and impressive career. She could have remained in private practice after her retirement from the Legal Service, but she chose to work at the Syariah Court instead. The skills and experience that she gained during her career were immensely useful in strengthening the court. As registrar, she played an important role in the fair and efficient administration of Muslim family law and was instrumental in overseeing many improvements. She has always discharged her duties with dignity, diligence and devotion, and she served with distinction and dedication. I thank her for her contributions to Singapore and the Muslim community.”

  6. At the reception, Mdm Animah said: “I am grateful for the privilege to serve and I welcome the new appointees. I am especially proud of them as this signals the diversity of talent in our community. I am confident that they will strengthen the Syariah Court further.”

1 The first registrar was Mr Shaiffudin Saruwan whereas the second was Mr Sheik Mustafa Abu Hassan.