SHAH ALAM, Nov 16 — A Wanita PKR delegate suggested the government go beyond standardising the minimum marriageable age at 18 for all creeds and genders, saying this should be set at 20 to encourage more scholarly pursuits.
Selangor delegate Ermeemarianna Saadon said even 18 was too soon for girls to begin raising children and families, adding that they should still be completing their tertiary studies at that point.
“There are also concerns for the health of young women who get pregnant,” she said during the debate on the topic of child marriage at the wing’s annual congress today.
The controversy over child marriages in Malaysia reignited after a 41-year-old Kelantan man was found to have taken an 11-year-old Thai girl as his third wife.
This, among others, prompted the government to work towards banning child marriages by standardising the minimum age to wed at 18 years’ old regardless of gender or religion.
Currently for non-Muslims, the minimum marriage age for boys and girls is 18, but a non-Muslim girl aged 16 may marry with the approval of their respective mentri besar or chief minister.
Under state Islamic laws, the marriageable age is 18 for boys and 16 for girls, but Shariah courts have the authority to give consent to those below the permitted age to get married. There is no minimum age of marriage for Muslims.
Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said Putrajaya will amend Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act and Islamic Family Law (Federal Territory) Act to make it harder for minors to marry until the government can standardise the minimum age at 18.
