IS it surprising that someone like Tasek Gelugor MP Shabudin Yahaya holds such views that a girl as young as nine is “physically and spiritually” ready for marriage and that such marriages can cure social ills.

The number of sexual abuse and violence against toddlers and young girls by paedophiles and such already tells you that there are a subset of men who objectify children.

Let’s read what the one-time shariah court judge turned politician said yesterday that caught the ire of many, including at least one fellow Barisan Nasional lawmaker, when he debated the Sexual Offences against Children Bill 2017 after several opposition lawmakers suggested amending it to include child marriages as an offence.  

“When we discuss 12- and 15-year-olds, we don’t see their physical bodies because some children aged 12 or 15, their bodies are like 18-year-old women,” Shabudin told the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday

He also said there was “nothing wrong” with a rape victim marrying the rapist as it could serve as a “remedy” to the increasing number of social problems.

Shabudin said while rape was a criminal offence, the rapist and the victim should be “given a second chance to turn a new leaf in life”.

“Perhaps through marriage they can lead a healthier, better life. And the person who was raped does not necessarily have a bleak future. She will have a husband, at least, and this could serve as a remedy to growing social problems,” he said.

First, this BN lawmaker and Islamic jurist speaks of girls’ bodies and believes that is enough for marriage. Not the mind, temperament and emotional condition for anyone to enter marriage.

Second, he believes it is fine for a rape victim, even as young as nine, to marry her rapist because it will solve social ills, and that it will give both the victim and the rapist “a second chance to turn a new leaf in life”.

Really? That’s your solution to rape, Mr Tasek Gelugor MP? And how many times can a man do this before you figure out he is a rapist because he wants to violently and sexually assault young girls, those as young as your own grandchild?

Would you condone it? Perhaps you would, because as you put it succinctly, “she will have a husband at least”.

Malaysia does not live in such uncivilised times, Mr Tasek Gelugor MP. Malaysian women are equal to men and are entitled to full protection of the law, no matter how young or old they are.

Don’t treat Malaysian women as chattels and family dishonours as some do elsewhere.

Marriages solve nothing when it is between a rape victim and a rapist. And it should not be condoned, more so by an MP. You’re giving a signal to every paedophile to turn up and sexually assault young girls, and then marry them and continue the assault.

And that is a crime. – April 5, 2017.