Jokes and remarks by two Pahang exco members defending child marriage, which were made in the state assembly in 2018, have returned to haunt them.
The assembly Hansard recorded Umno leaders Syed Ibrahim Syed Ahmad and Sharkar Shamsudin making these jokes when DAP's Ketari assemblyperson Young Syefura Othman condemned the marriage of an 11-year-old girl to a 41-year-old man.
Screenshots of the assembly Hansard reflecting this are now going viral on social media after Young Syefura made reference to them when congratulating the Kedah government for raising the minimum age of marriage for women to 18.
"In 2018, I raised this issue in the Pahang state assembly debates but unfortunately, it was used as fodder for jokes and jeers.
"I stand by my position to raise the minimum age of marriage for women to protect and ensure a better future for all girls in Pahang," Young Syefura said in a Facebook statement.
Syed Ibrahim is now the exco member for Islamic affairs and education while Sharkar is the exco member for tourism, culture, environment, plantations and commodities.
At the time the remarks were made, Syed Ibrahim was the exco member for Islamic propagation (dakwah) and special tasks, while Sharkar held the same post since 2018.
According to the assembly Hansard, Syed Ibrahim said the marriage between the 41-year-old man and 11-year-old girl was to prevent them from "doing something obscene".
Young Syefura replied it is unreasonable to expect this of an 11-year-old who is "still playing and watching cartoons".
Syed Ibrahim responded by saying: "Bermain-main tu lah.” (It's that kind of playing.)
The state assembly members were recorded to have laughed at this joke, believed to be a play on the Malay word main which is used colloquially to refer to sexual intercourse.
He further said it is better for the girl to be married to the 41-year-old than to allow them to have illicit sex "and have to use... a condominium".
This was another joke to refer to condoms.
The assembly members laughed at this joke as well, the Hansard showed.
‘Adults should not be attracted to children’
However, Syed Ibrahim went on to say he was not joking when stressing that he would rather have an 11-year-old girl have sex with a 41-year-old man within wedlock than outside of marriage, which is a sin.
Young Syefura then responded to say there should not be a danger of illicit sex between the man and the child because an adult should not have a sexual relationship or have a sexual attraction to a child.
She also noted that the 41-year-old man had reportedly had an interest in the girl since she was aged seven.
"Can the honourable members here accept it if an adult was sexually attracted to your seven-year-old?" she asked.
To this, Sharkar interjected to ask if Young Syefura can accept it if her son was gay.
Further into the debates, after Young Syefura outlined the poor outcomes for girls in child marriages, Syed Ibrahim responded to say that the state is not campaigning for child marriage.
"If possible, we want children to be educated, have proper status and a good life.
"But in isolated cases, as mentioned by Ketari, we can't tell them don't get married and use this device (a condom) instead.
"We have to take into account different circumstances so things will not become worse.
"It can be worse and will be harder on the child, the family and society (if she is not married off), so, in certain cases, we have to consider how the family can be properly protected," Syed Ibrahim added.
Making rounds on Twitter
Screenshots of the state assembly Hansard, shared by Twitter account @inforakyatbiasa, have been retweeted more than 2,400 times and liked over 1,300 times.
"Retweet to show your protest against the two Pahang BN assemblypersons who jeered at Young Syefura when she raised the issue of underage marriage in the Pahang assembly.
"Read the Hansard. It's disgusting!" the tweet read.
In response, many Twitter users condemned them and said only paedophiles and "rape apologists" would support child marriage.
They also condemned those who laughed at Syed Ibrahim's jokes.
Kedah sets 18 as minimum marriage age
On July 18, the Kedah state assembly approved amendments to the enactment to raise the minimum marriage age for Muslim women from 16 to 18.
However, Muslim girls aged below 18 who want to get married may do so if they obtain permission from the Syariah Court.
Data from the United Nations Children's Fund said 1,856 children in Malaysia got married in 2018, of whom 90 percent were girls.
Between 2007 and 2017, approximately 15,000 cases of child marriages were recorded.
Child marriage is most prevalent in Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak, and is mostly recorded in rural areas.
Child marriage does not only happen in Muslim communities.
In Sabah and Sarawak, non-Muslim bumiputera children have been recorded to have been married under native customs.
From 2017 to 2020, 1,138 cases of "customary child marriage" were recorded in Sarawak, the New Sarawak Tribune reported.
In 2020, the Warisan Sabah government announced plans to amend the Native Court Enactment to prevent child marriages. - Mkini
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