Religious leaders must lead to end child marriages, says MP

 

Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman says there still needs to be public consensus on the abolition of child marriage

PETALING JAYA: Religious leaders must lead the way in creating reforms and changes towards the abolition of child marriage in the country, Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman said.

Speaking at a public forum today, he said the messaging about child marriage may be more meaningful if it comes from religious speakers.

“There still needs to be public consensus backing the abolition of child marriage,” he said. “We need to meet up with muftis to convince them that this is the way forward.”

He added there was enough Islamic thinking and opinion on this considering that child marriage has been abolished successfully in many other countries.

“There needs to be meaningful consultation with a set timelines between all states and chief ministers. It cannot be cosmetic,” he said.

Syed Saddiq said there must be an active effort to meet state governments to discuss raising the minimum age for marriage.

He also called for continuous efforts for discussions with the royal houses. “I believe a lot of them are progressive and would want to push for this,” he said.

Activist and Project Girls 4 Girls co-founder Izzana Salleh said there were cultural and religious challenges aside from the typical legal issues on raising the minimum legal age for marriage.

“Culturally, there is a huge demonisation of those who question and push back against age-old traditions.”

Recently, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) children’s commissioner Noor Aziah Mohd Awal said data from the department showed that 692 child marriages were registered last year, compared with 785 in 2019 and 1,144 in 2015.

Meanwhile, Unicef Malaysia child protection chief Sarah Norton-Staal said there appeared to be an “upward trend” for child marriages in the country, likely as a result of the pandemic, which may have “intensified the risk factors for child marriage”. - FMT