MALAYSIA will eventually ban child marriage but until the laws can be amended, Putrajaya is seeking to tighten up regulations to ensure the safety of all minors, said the minister in charge of religious affairs, Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa.

The minister in the Prime Minister’s Department said there were many laws that would need to be amended to outlaw the practice but the “short-term plan” is to enforce a standard operating procedure for agencies and officials involved in such cases.

“We are at this short term, coming up with an SOP to tighten up the rules. It would be within this month, they would come up with it and show it to me,” Mujahid told reporters at Parliament today.

“Let me say here this is just temporary. (For) long term, child marriages should be banned.”

The Amanah lawmaker said the government faces problems, such as individual state laws which are not streamlined, complicating the process of banning child marriage.

“Once the federal has come up with such a law, we hope the state would follow it, no point having a law that is only followed at the federal level,” he said.

“The end result, we are hoping to end child marriage.”

Reports of a 41-year-old man taking an 11-year-old Thai for his third wife last month dominated headlines in Malaysia, casting a spotlight on child marriages in the country.

Despite stating that the government “unequivocally” opposes child marriages and was working towards raising the minimum age for marriage to 18, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail recently courted criticism for appearing to downplay the case.

The women, family and community development minister asked for the family’s privacy to be protected and said the public should not resort to attacking the man and his family on social media.

Critics lashed out at the PKR president, demanding swifter action in arresting the groom under the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017, and calling for a ban on child marriage. – July 25, 2018.