Marina on child marriage: Ban it, full stop

The government should impose an unconditional blanket ban on child marriage, says social activist Marina Mahathir.

“Ban it. Full stop. No ifs, no buts, no conditions. Nothing,” she told reporters when asked what the government should do about the issue.

Marina said she finds it hard to believe that child marriage is still being talked about, despite the issue coming under renewed scrutiny of late.

It is also upsetting, she added, that much of the discourse has focused on rules and procedures, as opposed to the welfare and rights of child brides.

“The thing I find upsetting is that everybody is talking about rules, regulations, procedures, laws…

“Nobody is talking about the welfare of the child, and that should be central to everything we do,” she said.

The issue came to public attention again after it was reported in June that a 41-year old man in Sungai Golok had taken an 11-year old as his third wife.

The man had since been fined RM1,800 by the Gua Musang Syariah Lower Court for two charges of solemnising a marriage and committing polygamy without permission.

Currently, the minimum age for marriage for Malaysian non-Muslims is 18, but non-Muslim girls can marry as young as 16 with the consent of a menteri besar or chief minister.

For Muslim Malaysians, the minimum age for males is 18 years, and the minimum age for females is 16 years, but exceptions can be made with permission from the Syariah Court.

In a parliamentary reply dated Nov 15, 2017, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry said there were 10,807 Muslim underage marriages from 2007 to October 2017.

The figure for non-Muslim underage marriages over the same period was 4,999. - Mkini