Wan Azizah: Seven states won't ban child marriage

PARLIAMENT | Seven states have turned down the federal government’s proposal to amend their state enactments to ban child marriages for Muslims or natives, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said.

“There are seven states that have disagreed with amendments to their related enactments. These are Sarawak, Pahang, Terengganu, Perlis, Negri Sembilan, Kedah and Kelantan,” she told the Dewan Rakyat today.

Wan Aizah said the minimum age for marriage for Muslims and natives is governed by the Islamic enactments and native customary laws ordinance - both of which fall under the jurisdiction of the states, according to the Federal Constitution.

 She said her ministry is in its final stage of drafting the national strategic plan to combat child marriages in Malaysia, which involves amendments to the Islamic Family Law Act 1984 (Act 303).

The draft amendments are being finalised by the Islamic Law and Civil Law Technical Committee of the Islamic Development Department (Jakim), she said.

However, given the state schedule in the Federal Constitution, the states have the right to reject this amendment in their jurisdictions, Wan Azizah, who is also deputy prime minister, added.

Thus far only Selangor has amended its state enactment to ban child marriages while the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur is in the process of amending its enactment.

“Five other states have agreed to amend the relevant enactments, which are Penang, Sabah, Johor, Malacca and Perak,” she said.

Wan Azizah was responding to Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh (above, Harapan-Ledang) who asked what the government was doing to raise the minimum age of marriage to 18.

“For non-Muslims, the Home Ministry has informed us that there is no need to make any amendments to the Marriage and Divorce Act 1976,” said Wan Azizah.

She added that the existing law bars marriage for non-Muslims aged under 18, unless they are aged 16 (for girls) or 17 (for boys) and received special permission from their chief minister or menteri besar.

She said that since Aug 22, a special standard operating procedure has been in place to better deal with applications for marriages from those under 18 years of age.

Meanwhile, Syed Ibrahim noted that the world’s most populous Muslim nation, Indonesia, has succeeded to ban child marriage by setting the minimum age for marriage at 19.

In response, Wan Azizah said Indonesia was able to do so because it did not need the agreement from the states.

However, she pointed out that the law in Indonesia still allows marriage for those under 19 if they could obtain court approval.  - Mkini