PETALING JAYA, April 5 — An Umno MP's suggestion for child rape victims to marry their attackers was excessive, said Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today.

The former deputy prime minister also rejected Tasek Gelugor MP Datuk Shabudin Yahya's claim the move could address social problems stemming from rape.

"[Rape] is unacceptable behaviour, be it from the point of religious or civil law,” he told reporters in a press conference here.

"Therefore, to suggest solving social problems through marriage, I feel that has crossed limits.”

"I feel that if we were to give such a picture, there might be parties who misunderstand that to address such social problems, the best way is to do the act and later marry to validate such a misdeed,” he added.

Muhyiddin was responding to Shabudin’s suggestion in Parliament yesterday that rapists be allowed to marry their child victims.

The Umno ex-Shariah judge-turned-lawmaker claimed rape victims could avoid a "bleak” future if they married their rapists, while debating a proposal to ban child marriages in the new Sexual Offences Against Children Act.

Shabudin said that it was unfair to "assume" that a sexual offender will continue being a "bad person.”