THE minimum marriageable age for Muslim women should be raised to 18 from 16, the Pakatan Harapan women’s wings said today in a press conference, urging Putrajaya to bring the restriction into line with the minimum age for men.

“With this position that we take today, we hope the government will take heed that this is an improvement towards our social system, especially in overcoming social problems and quality of life,” PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin said.

While praising the federal government for tabling the Sexual Offences against Children Bill 2017, the women’s wing said the policy to increase the minimum age was to ensure a higher quality upbringing for children.

Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching said child marriage was not a fringe issue in Malaysia because there had been nearly 9,000 cases from 2010 to 2015, involving 6,300 Muslims and 2,800 non-Muslims.

“Child marriage is not a solution to teen sex and social ills, but in some cases, the child is punished twice by having to marry her rapist and being deprived of education, social mobility and economic opportunity,” Teo said.

“Child brides are prone to abuse and there have been cases of child marriage ending abruptly in divorce after a short period, leaving the child with a baby,” she said.

Under Islamic family laws, the minimum legal age for Muslims is 18 and 16 for men and women respectively, but marriage below these ages is still legal upon consent of a Shariah judge.

Meanwhile, under the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act, non-Muslims can marry at the age of 18, but parental consent is still required if they are below 21.

Separately, Amanah Kota Raja MP Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud said Amanah Wanita didn’t call for a complete ban on the hit Spanish-language song Despacito.

According to Mariah, the wing only suggested the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) initiate a proper monitoring system on all songs for obscene content.

“We are not stopping other people from listening to it. But there is what we called public and personal sphere, if you want to access it on the internet in your own time, (that’s fine),” she said.

“But airing it over television and radio is a public sphere. So we have to take into consideration there are children who listen to this type of song,” she said.

Zuraida suggested the government apply the same practice of film-censoring to songs, especially those that in a different language.

“If the song is a bit vulgar, maybe the industry of music should verify (songs) like the way they screen their films, because some films have to go for screen test before being shown.

“The music industry has to look into this, especially when the songs are in a different language, which we don’t understand,” she said.

Yesterday, Radio Televisyen malaysia (RTM) ceased airing Despacito on all of its radio and television stations. 

Amanah Wanita has led the call for radio stations to stop broadcasting the global hit song for its allegedly obscene lyrics. – July 20, 2017.