WAO slams PAS for child marriage suggestion

Women’s rights NGO says young girls are socially immature and very vulnerable to mental, physical and sexual abuse as they lack knowledge and life experience.

PETALING JAYA: The Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) today slammed PAS lawmaker Nik Mazian Nik Mohamad’s claim that child marriages would put a stop to premarital sex among teenagers.

In labelling Nik Mazian’s comments as reckless, the NGO’s advocacy officer, Lainey Lau, pointed out that child marriages tend to lead to negative consequences.

Girls married off at a young age were often alienated and had their education interrupted, she explained.

Lau said this would prevent them from becoming economically independent and learning how to socialise.

“Being economically dependent on their spouse also traps them in an abusive marriage, as a viable alternative is usually out of the question.

“When they are socially immature, they are very vulnerable to mental, physical and sexual abuse as they lack knowledge and life experience,” Lau told FMT.

She also took the Pasir Puteh MP to task for suggesting that a teenager raped by a 40-year-old in Sabah was “lusty” if she willingly had sex with the former.

“It is uncalled for. It demonstrates his dismissal of discussing an important social issue by passing presumptuous judgments.”

Meanwhile, former WAO executive director Ivy Josiah pointed out that culture and religion should not be an excuse to not accept international standards in human rights.

She said while child marriages were allowed, both in civil and shariah law, the country should adhere to the United Nations’ definition of a child.

“According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, they’re children as long as they are below 18.”

In Malaysia, those below the age of 18 are considered children, but civil law allows for those aged between 16 and 18 to get married, provided they get the chief minister’s consent first.

Shariah law, meanwhile, stipulates that girls who have reached puberty, including nine-year-olds, can get married, granted they obtained permission from their parents or the shariah court.