The Malaysia Islamic Development Department (Jakim) plans to extend the use of the Malaysia Islamic Marriage Management System (SPPIM) application to every state.

Its director-general, Tan Sri Othman Mustapha said so far, only five states, namely Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Kedah, Perak and Perlis, as well as the Federal Territories had agreed to use the application for, among others, checking the marital or divorce status of a person.

"Besides the states mentioned, this application will be extended to Selangor and Terengganu if there are allocations.

"Apart from easing and expediting the search process, Jakim has introduced this application to help avoid deceit, for example, one is already married but claiming to be single," he told reporters after the launching of the Halal Awareness Campaign Capsule, here, last night.

Othman said the application, jointly developed with the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) and other government Agencies, would be fully used next year.

"This system eases the application to marry as the applicants no longer need to fill the form manually," he added.

The SPPIM covers a number of modules including pre-marriage, online pre-marriage, solemnisation of marriage and divorce.

Meanwhile, the Halal Awareness Capsule launched, will enable the dissemination of more comprehensive information to consumers through various communication channels for better public understanding of the halal issue and developments.

"This capsule is also aimed at introducing the genuine Malaysian halal logo to the public and to raise confidence in the halal status of products given the Malaysian halal certification," said Othman. - BERNAMA