MALAYSIANS took to social media today to voice their disgust at a recent case of a 41-year-old man who wed an 11-year-old girl, demanding that the new government immediately put an end to child marriages.

With hashtags #HaramkanNikahBawahUmur and #EndChildMarriage, Malaysians said there should be no justification – religious or otherwise – for sanctioning child marriages.

“This is basically peadophilia hiding behind the mask of religion. Children cannot consent. This is an act of robbery of the girl’s childhood. Disgusting,” tweeted @ainisdead.

Another tweeter user Shafiqah Othman, who posted under @sfqomhz, said child marriage was “nothing more than sanctioned child molestation and/or peadophilia; an obvious exploitation and manipulation of children.”

Social media was abuzz with posts on Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s response earlier today saying that the government will amend the Child Act 2016 and the Islamic Family Enactment to raise the legal minimum age for marriage for Muslim women from 16 to 18.

The legal marriageable age for Muslim men and women in Malaysia is 18 and 16 respectively. However, marriages of those below these ages are still legal upon the consent of a shariah judge.

For non-Muslims, 18 is the legal marriageable age for both genders but a girl aged 16 can be legally married with the authorisation of the state chief minister or menteri besar.

Critics said with the “loopholes” in the current Act allowing underage marriage to still proceed with adequate authorisation, raising the minimum marriage age would be moot.

“Repeal special approvals from either MBs or the shariah courts. There’s no point raising minimum age if approvals were still given for underage brides”, tweeted Afiq Harraz (@AfiqH1507).

Zashnain Zainal (@bedlamfury) agreed, saying that authorities have for too long allowed child marriages to continue.

“If the issue of child marriage in Malaysia is not addressed anytime soon in Parliament, we need to find better avenues to express our disappointment.

“This includes taking it to the streets and demand for change,” he said.

The case of the 41-year-old man from Kelantan first surfaced after one of the man’s two other wives posted a congratulatory message to her husband, which then made its rounds on social media.

The groom has since defended his actions in marrying the young girl, who is a Thai national, saying that he was merely trying to “help” provide for her as her family were poor.

However, Twitter user @CheskaTatiana slammed the reason, saying that there were many other ways to help a child and her family.

“There’s absolutely nothing stopping you from helping a child out of poverty through sponsoring her education, buying the family food, helping her parents get a job.

“Why on earth you need to marry a child, I’ll never be able to understand,” said @CheskaTatiana

The man was reported to have wed the child in a ceremony in Thailand without the consent of his first and second wives. He claims to have merely entered into a legal marriage that is akin to an engagement, and has not consummated the wedding.

The girl, who wanted to be known as Ayu, told media that the marriage was consensual, and that her husband had agreed to let her remain living with her parents for five years.

Facebook user Arifah Alia said that a child under 18 is not even deemed mature enough to enter into a contract, much less a marriage.

“This is why we should criminalise child marriage in Malaysia,” she wrote.

“Minors should be getting education and have fun with child of their age. Child marriage is denying their freedom and right to enjoyment of life as a child.” – July 1, 2018.