KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 — Malaysia still lacked any clear plan to legally prevent child marriage the in the country despite years of discussions, according to women’s rights group Sisters In Islam (SIS).

Its newly launched fourth annual booklet of statistics and findings dubbed Telenisa Statistics shows that reforms to laws affecting the practice remained murky due to the lack of universal support from the various states.

"Unfortunately, there are still seven states that disagree with the legal amendment (to raise the age for Muslim female and males to be married at 18 years old), being Sarawak, Pahang, Terengganu, Perlis, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah and Kelantan,” the booklet wrote. 

In September 2018, Selangor became the first state in Malaysia to raise the marriageable age for Muslim female and males to 18 years’ old, although some exceptions remained. 

In November 2019, five other states have agreed to amend the law including Penang, Sabah, Johor, Melaka and Perak (although till the date of Telenisa Statistics’ publication, their laws have not been amended). 

"Recently in January, (then) Women, Family and Community Datuk Seri Wan Azizah Wan Ismail took the initiative to intervene in the causes of child marriage by launching the five-year National Strategic Plan to Overcome the Reason of Underage Marriage,” the booklet wrote. 

According to the booklet also, the government had then looked into a few factors that made it hard to end child marriage, such as low income and poverty, lack or absence of access to sexual reproductive health (SRH) education and parenting skills, lack of access to education and attendance to primary schools and the stigma and social norms where child marriages are considered the best option for solving problems, among others.  

It was reported last November that the federal government cannot enforce a ban on child marriages nationwide as seven states are not cooperating, Dr Wan Azizah said in Parliament then. 

She added that only Selangor has successfully amended its laws on child marriages.

She also pointed out that amending the enactment/legal ordinance on minimum age for marriages can only happen if the states agreed with the proposed amendments.

Five-year strategic plan to address underage marriage. — Picture from Twitter/Bernama