Detecting the trend of mediation services in Malaysia: Pre- and Post-Covid-19 pandemic

• Main Authors: Mohd. Zain, Nor Razinah, Giovanni, Matteucci
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English; English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General); K Law (General); KPG Malaysia
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/95834/2/PCON%202020%20Program%20Book.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/95834/3/NOR%20RAZINAH.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/95834/15/95834_Detecting%20the%20trend%20of%20mediation%20services%20in%20Malaysia%20Pre-%20and%20Post-Covid-19%20pandemic.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/95834/; https://conference.iium.edu.my/pcon/

Mediation services are frequently referred to in Malaysia. Even though, there is no uniformity in the establishment of institutions that offering such mediation services, they are placed as favorable dispute resolution mechanism to reduce cost, time effective, and to provide a win-win resolution. The incident of COVID-19 pandemic has a huge influence to the development of mediation services in Malaysia. Looking closely to banking and finance sector in Malaysia, this research is done to examine the trend of mediation services during the pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic. By adopting qualitative methodology, content analysis and observational approach, the data is collected from a survey done by the authors to the institutions that are offering mediation services to the banking and finance sector in Malaysia. This research is restricted to observe the trend of mediation services per se, even though the related institutions may have other dispute resolution services such as arbitration and adjudication. The findings indicate a significant change in mediation services as offered by the related institutions. This is especially related to the conduct of mediation session, procedures, and online platforms are highly depended by the related institutions to continue the mediation process. Majority mediation sessions are put at halt during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a limited degree for operation. The related institutions are also following and strictly observing the requirement of social distancing, wearing masks during any encounter with their clients, and providing hand sanitizers in their premises. Moreover, the dependency on online platforms should be encouraged among the related institutions in order to resolve the existing dispute among the parties of mediation.