KUANTAN, Sept 23 — Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department expressed disappointement over a statement by Sabah Mufti Datuk Bungsu @ Aziz Jaafar who wanted the marriage age to be reduced to 14 years for a bride and 16 years for a bridegroom on grounds that children today were exposed to sex at an early age.

She said marriage was not just about sex, but also responsibility to be shouldered by the married couple.

The Kuantan Member of Parliament said a person should be mentally and physically prepared to get married, as well as to be financially stable.

"An edict by the National Council of Islamic religious affairs in 2011 did state that underage marriage brings more harm than good.

"If there are social problems where the teenager is exposed to sex out of wedlock at a young age, the problem is that of the religious institution and the effectiveness of their dakwah programme.

"We should ask why it happened and not find solutions by allowing child marriage. That will kill their future,” he told Bernama through the WhatsApp application here today.

She said a 14-year-old girl would not be biologically prepared for marriage where getting pregnant at that age would risk her of getting a miscarriage or perinatal death and psychologically, there were not ready to shoulder the responsibility as a wife, resulting in the marriage ending in divorce.

"At that age, they should be in school,” she added.

Bungsu, in a statement yesterday, said he disagreed with the government’s proposal to increase the marriage age to 18 for reasons that, among others, children today mature and are exposed to sex early. — Bernama