POVERTY, ignorance and family strife are the main causes of child marriages in Malaysia, according to a study released, as outrage grew over an 11-year-old Thai married off to a Malaysian ustaz last week. 

The study commissioned by Unicef and conducted by two Malaysian academics revealed that the prevalence of child marriages in the country is largely spurred on by poverty, lack of access to education and a break in the family institution.

The working paper, “Child marriage in Malaysia” by Prof Noor Aziah Mohd Awal and Dr Mohd Al Adib Samuri from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, was released last week after researchers conducted interviews with 120 participants last year.

The respondents all married between 2016 and 2018 when they were under 16, which is the legal age for Muslim girls to marry, and 18, which is the legal marrying age for non-Muslims.

The study interviewed people from different backgrounds, ethnicities, sex, religions, geographic locations and economic statuses nationwide, including Rohingya refugees, and 20 participants who were pregnant but not married.

It showed that for every ethnicity, low household income was among the main drivers that influenced the occurrence of child marriage.

Parents from low-income households would opt to marry off their children if they are unable to afford continuing their children’s education.

“The interviews revealed that the fathers of child brides were typically employed in low-income positions. Most of the mothers were not employed outside the home, although some had small businesses with low remuneration,” said the study.

Many of those who were married as children were unable to attend school because of family income or pregnancy.

Although government schools in Malaysia do not charge fees, there are additional expenses, such as transportation, uniforms, books and miscellaneous fees.

Some participants in the study chose to cut short their school life to alleviate their parents’ financial burden and the early school-leavers would ultimately get married.

The working paper was released in the wake of a recent case involving a Kelantanese rubber trader who married a Thai girl as his third wife last month.

The man claimed that he merely wanted to take care of the girl and her poverty-ridden family.

Despite claims by the groom that he will only consummate the marriage after the bride turns 16, the marriage has been heavily criticised by local and international rights groups.

Yesterday, the rubber trader was fined RM1,800 by the Gua Musang lower shariah court for marrying without approval and also getting into a polygamous marriage without consent.

Lack of sexual education

The Unicef study also found that apart from poverty, a lack of sexual and reproductive health (SRH) education and services were among the key drivers to child marriages, as many child brides did not take necessary precautions during sex with their partners to avoid pregnancy.

Analysis of the data suggested that participants got married to be “responsible” over their decisions to have pre-marital sex.

“This perspective was rooted in tradition, religion and the values that some participants and their families upheld,” said the study.

“Interviews with the majority of the participants suggested that this meant taking responsibility for having sex before marriage and being responsible for children born as a result of pre-marital sex, who must have a father to claim paternity from and to provide financial support.

“For many participants, marriage fulfilled both of these responsibilities,” said the report.

In the study, the Department of Shariah Judiciary recorded 6,584 of child marriages involving Muslims from 2011 to October 2016, with Sarawak recording the highest number of cases (1,284) followed by Kelantan (1,010) and Sabah (955).

Out of 6,584, a total of 3,618 cases involved female Muslim children, where Kelantan recorded the highest number of cases at 673, followed by Sabah (505) and Sarawak (466). The remaining 2,966 children were Muslim males.

The study also revealed that based on the National Registration Department, a total of 5,215 non-Muslim females aged between 16 and 18 years were married from 2005 to 2015.

For the Orang Asli community, sourced from the Department of Orang Asli, there were 196 child marriages in 2010.

Researchers suggested a few recommendations to prevent child marriages in the country, such as cash transfers to poorer households to ease their burden and holding workshops for parents to educate them on “the negative consequences of child marriage”.

“Counselling services act as a follow-up to the seminars or workshops to ensure that parents understand how to support and guide their children,” said the working paper.

The study also recommends that the Education Ministry come up with guidelines at national schools to address pregnancy among girls. – July 10, 2018.