RAISING the minimum age for marriage was high on the agenda at the first meeting of menteri besar and chief ministers with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad under the new Pakatan Harapan government yesterday.

The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry made its case for raising the minimum marriage age to 18 with a presentation to the heads of state governments, who agreed to take the matter back to their states for consideration, deputy minister Hannah Yeoh said.

“We presented to all the PH menteri besar and chief ministers, including Sabah and Sarawak. (We explained) that moving (the minimum age) to 18 is in our manifesto.

“Our ministry presented on the negative impact of child marriage and especially the health risks (on the child).

“They agreed to take it back to their states (for) review,” Yeoh told The Malaysian Insight.

Of Malaysia’s 13 states, seven are ruled by PH. Sabah and Sarawak have PH-friendly governments under Parti Warisan Sabah and Gabungan Parti Sarawak, respectively.

Perlis and Pahang are under Barisan Nasional, and Kelantan and Terengganu are ruled by PAS. Leaders of the Islamist opposition party have said that banning child marriages would contravene religious teachings.

Dr Mahathir chaired the meeting yesterday, which was the 132nd meeting of heads of state governments with the prime minister and the first such meeting after PH seized federal power in the May 9 elections.

It was reported by Bernama that Pahang, Kelantan and Terengganu did not send their menteri besar to the meeting but had representatives instead.

Child marriage became a flashpoint for the new government when news of a 41-year-old taking an 11-year-old Thai girl as his second wife in Kelantan caused an outcry in late June. This was followed by another case involving a 44-year-old People’s Volunteer Corp member who married a 15-year-old in Tumpat in July.

There was strong public support for a complete ban on child marriage by immediately raising the minimum age. 

There was also public anger at the ministry’s early statements on the Kelantan case, when Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said the marriage was being “investigated” and that Putrajaya was “powerless” to nullify the union which was legal under Kelantan shariah law.

The ministry’s presentation to menteri besar and chief ministers yesterday was part of an ongoing process to influence stakeholders towards the goal of banning child marriage.

“What happened (the meeting) is consistent with what Dr Wan Azizah (has said),” Yeoh said.

Last month, Wan Azizah said amending the law to raise the minimum marriage age nationwide would take time because of the many stakeholders involved.

She stressed on the need to get buy-in from all states in order for the minimum marriage age to be raised uniformly, as Islamic matters fall under the purview of each state’s sultan or ruler. Buy-in is also needed from the heads of indigenous communities, where underage marriages according to customary law are allowed.

So far, Selangor has been most progressive, making history when its legislative assembly in early September fixed the marriage age at 18 by amending the Islamic Family Law (State of Selangor) Enactment 2003 and the Syariah Court Civil Procedure (State of Selangor) Enactment 2003.

However, Selangor still doesn’t have a blanket ban on marriage for girls above 16 and below 18. Those within this age bracket can still marry after applying to the shariah court and going through stringent requirements.

While non-Muslims cannot marry below the age of 16, shariah law in Malaysian states has no minimum marriage age for Muslims.

Muslim girls younger than 16 can still marry with the consent from a shariah judge. – October 17, 2018.