DEPUTY Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will answer all questions and proposals pertaining to the issue of child marriage in Parliament, said Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh.

Yeoh said the call by the G25 group of top retired civil servants to make child marriage a federal crime will also be addressed by Dr Wan Azizah, who is the women’s minister.

“The minister will be tackling it in Parliament.

“This is a hot issue, I’m sure it will be raised in the Parliament,” she told reporters after officiating the 7th Edition of Asean Mechanical and Engineering Show in Kuala Lumpur.

G25, a group of prominent Malays, had said that classifying child marriage as a federal crime will ensure the law will be applied equally to all Malaysians without exception.

The recent news of the marriage of an 11-year-old Thai girl to a 41-year-old man in Kelantan last month gripped headlines around the world, with many opponents calling the marriage a form of child abuse.

The man from Gua Musang reportedly married the girl in southern Thailand without obtaining the consent of his first two wives. News of the marriage broke after his second wife lodged a police report.

The rubber tapper was only slapped with RM1,800 fine, meted out by a Kelantan Shariah Court.

He was charged under Section 19 and Section 24 of the Kelantan Islamic Family Enactment, which carries a maximum RM1,000 fine or two months’ jail.

Section 19 states that no marriage can be solemnised without permission from the registrar or a shariah judge, while Section 124 prohibits polygamy without the court’s permission.

After he pleaded guilty to both charges, Gua Musang shariah judge Mohd Surbaineey Hussain fined him RM900 for each offence.

Dr Wan Azizah had said the government was in the midst of deliberating the raising of the minimum age for marriage for both genders to 18, and a decision will be finalised in the near future.

She had said the man was being investigated for sexual grooming, which is an offence under the Sexual Offences Against Children Act. – July 17, 2018.