KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 — Marrying girls off at a young age is not the solution to statutory rape, independent Muslim preacher Wan Ji Wan Hussin said yesterday.
He also disputed PAS ulama information chief Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali’s statement that marriage is the “best” way to resolve the issue of sex with minors, pointing out that many rape cases are committed by married people and involve incest, such as fathers raping daughters and grandfathers assaulting grandchildren.
“Marriage is good, but not necessarily for underaged children who are still studying and are growing up,” Wan Ji told Malay Mail Online.
The independent preacher noted that the oft-cited hadith that Aishah married Prophet Muhammad when she was seven years old was a matter of contention among clerics.
“Aishah married the Prophet at the estimated age of between 16 and 20 years old,” he said.
Police statistics reportedly showed that statutory rape comprised about half of reported rape cases in 2013, 2014 and up to October this year.
Local daily The Star reported that statutory rape amounted for 1,424 out of the 2,767 rape cases reported in 2013, 1,243 of 2,349 cases last year, and 920 of 1,794 cases reported this year as of October.
Malay Mail Online understands that the majority of statutory rape cases involves sex between underaged girls and older men above the age of 18, not between minors of similar ages. In Malaysia, the legal age of consent to sex is 16.
Khairuddin said on Wednesday that marriage was the “best solution provided by Islam” to statutory rape.
When contacted for comment, Perak Mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria said child marriages are permitted in Islam.
He cited the hadith about Aishah but note that although she was seven when she married Prophet Muhammad who was 40 years old then, they only consummated the marriage after she turned 11.
“It’s better to get married legally than to commit adultery,” Harussani told Malay Mail Online. “At least, he will have responsibilities and the children get inheritance and property in a legitimate manner”.
Harussani also said his parents got married when they were 12, pointing out that “the kids turned out fine”.
“I think the Chinese also used to do that in the olden days. The Indians still do it even now,” the conservative Muslim cleric said.
In Malaysia, Islamic law allows Muslim boys below the legal marrying age of 18 and Muslim girls below the age of 16 to wed, but they require consent from the Shariah Court that is granted on a case-by-case basis. The Shariah Courts reportedly approve the majority of applications to marry underage girls.
The legal marrying age under civil laws in Malaysia for both genders is 18, but exemptions permit girls aged between 16 and 18 to marry with the consent of the state’s chief minister or mentri besar.
According to the United Nations, the 2010 census reportedly showed that about 80,000 of married women in Malaysia were aged between 15 and 19. Then Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Heng Seai Kie reportedly said the same year that about 16,000 girls below 15 were married.
All Women’s Action Society (AWAM) programme officer Lee Wei San said child marriage is not the solution to statutory rape as young girls are more vulnerable to abuse, including domestic violence.
“We should be talking about sex education,” Lee told Malay Mail Online.
“Why force a child to have a child that she cannot raise? What about her rights to education, to work, to basically grow as a child?” the women’s rights activist added.
