What does RM500 say about how we see child marriage?

 Those exercising authority must look beyond a proposal’s immediate benefit and examine the damage it could create.

From Ameena Siddiqi

In 2018, Malaysia was outraged by the marriage of a 41-year-old Malaysian man to an 11-year-old Thai girl. He was a father of six. She had never attended school. She became his third wife.

The marriage was solemnised in southern Thailand without shariah court approval. The man was later fined RM1,800 for marrying and practising polygamy without permission.

The case prompted public outcry, with the government announcing plans to amend the law to raise the minimum marriage age for girls from 16 to 18.

Eight years later, Malaysia still has no uniform law establishing 18 as the minimum marriage age for everyone, without exception.

Now the issue has returned in another form. Perak is considering a RM500 first-marriage incentive for youths aged between 15 and 35. The proposed incentive, passed unanimously at a youth assembly, is expected to be brought to the Perak executive council for further discussion before being considered for the 2027 state budget.

The age range was reportedly adopted because the Youth Development and Sports Act 2007 defines “youth” as beginning at 15.

Somebody took a definition used for youth development and applied it to marriage. Did nobody stop to ask what it means to place a 15-year-old within a government marriage incentive?

Not a transferable definition

At 15, someone may be called a youth in sports, leadership or entrepreneurship. Under Section 2 of the Child Act 2001, that same person is a child. Marriage creates lifelong legal, emotional, physical and financial responsibilities. A definition suitable for one programme cannot be transferred to another without examining its possible harm.

I cannot imagine allowing my 14-year-old son to marry next year. He is still discovering who he is and beginning to understand relationships, consequences and responsibility. He should be thinking about school, friendships and his future.

I also think of a woman I once met who was married at 15. When I met her, she was 31 and raising seven children alone. She had studied only up to Form 3, had no career and did not know where her husband was.

The adults who allowed or encouraged that marriage may have believed they were solving immediate problems. But where were they when the marriage failed? Who ensured her children were properly cared for? Who was accountable when her husband disappeared? She and her children lived with the consequences.

I married at 19. Even then, I struggled with the responsibilities and pressures of marriage despite having family support. Marriage is difficult even for adults with education, employment and life experience. What makes us believe a 15-year-old is equipped to carry its burdens?

Is this ‘sakinah’, ‘mawaddah’, and ‘rahmah’?

In Islam, marriage is associated with “sakinah, mawaddah and rahmah”: tranquillity, love and mercy. (Surah al-Rum, verse 21). These ideals require maturity, compassion, responsibility and the capacity to understand and fulfil another person’s rights.

Can a marriage with a child realistically offer tranquillity, love and mercy when she may have to leave school, become financially dependent, experience early pregnancy and enter a relationship in which she has little power?

A marriage certificate cannot manufacture maturity, transform dependency into security or turn vulnerability into meaningful consent.

If adults are delaying marriage because of insecure work, low wages, unaffordable housing or expensive wedding expectations, address those problems. But do not draw children into that policy.

Where was the harm test?

Before adopting a law, policy, programme or budget decision affecting children, governments should examine its potential effect on their rights.

The Child Rights Impact Assessment asks which children may be affected and examines direct and indirect consequences for their education, health, safety, development and autonomy. It considers whether vulnerable groups will bear greater harm, whether children have been consulted, and whether the intended benefit can be achieved through a safer alternative.

Article 3 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that “the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration” in actions undertaken by administrative authorities and legislative bodies.

Was any child rights impact assessment conducted before 15-year-olds were included in the Perak proposal? If so, where is it? How was a proposal affecting children unanimously approved without anyone first examining the possible harm?

Islamic jurisprudence offers a compelling test. The prophetic teaching “la darar wa la dirar” means, “There should be neither harm nor reciprocation of harm”. From it, Muslim jurists developed the legal maxim that harm must be removed. (Hadith 32, Forty Hadith of Imam al-Nawawi).

Good intentions are not enough. Those exercising authority must look beyond a proposal’s immediate benefit and examine the damage it could create.

What is the proposed benefit? RM500 to reduce the cost of beginning married life. What is the foreseeable harm?

A government appearing to legitimise marriage during childhood, with the risks of interrupted education, early pregnancy, financial dependence, isolation and abuse; Can RM500 outweigh that?

Protection cannot remain selective

Section 8 of the Islamic Family Law Enactment (Perak) 2004 sets the minimum marriage age at 18 for males and 16 for females, while permitting marriage below those ages with the written permission of a shariah judge.

However, a judge’s signature does not return a child to school, or remove the risks of pregnancy, dependency or abuse. It cannot give a minor the maturity or bargaining power of an adult.

A child is a child in Perak, Selangor, Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak. Her protection should not depend on her gender, religion or postcode. How many more times must child marriage return before we end it?

Perak must remove everyone below 18 from the proposed incentive. Malaysia must set 18 as the minimum marriage age regardless of gender, religion or location. Remove the exceptions. Require child rights impact assessments for laws and policies affecting children. Publish the findings. Support vulnerable children and their families before marriage is ever considered.

We were outraged in 2018. We promised reform, but now we are still asking the same questions. The harm is foreseeable. The child is visible. The excuse is gone. - FMT

Ameena Siddiqi is the communications manager of SIS Forum (Malaysia).

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.