KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — Putrajaya can only negotiate with state governments to amend laws that are currently allowing child marriages, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said today.
Nancy said this is because Shariah and native laws fall under the jurisdiction of the states, and therefore the latter holds the final say on whether to approve the amendments while the federal government cannot interfere much in the matter.
"This is the states' jurisdiction and we cannot impose on them. We can request to have engagement sessions like Selangor and Penang had with us.
"Some states are harder to deal with than others because of the native law. Then at the same time, we have programmes to empower women, and teach them the good and bad about teenage marriages.
"So we need to keep continuing to do these advocacy events, give the youngsters awareness on what's happening," she said during an International Women's Day event here.
Nancy said Selangor had accepted to amend the laws, and urged the public for more time to tackle this issue as she just took office not long ago.
Her successor in Perikatan Nasional, Datuk Seri Rina Harun, had previously said that Putrajaya would not ban child marriages and suggested instead that public perception towards it is changed through education.
In March last year, Unicef Malaysia noted an upwards trend in child marriages here during the Covid-19 pandemic, which was attributed to the increase in school closures, parental deaths and the families worsening financial situations.
Government data in 2021 showed an average of 1,500 children in the country from various religions, ethnicities, and communities marry annually with girl brides making up 90 per cent.
Nancy said her ministry has already written to the states to ask to meet and speak with the officials and agencies in charge regarding these issues.
She said the Cabinet has also asked religious affairs minister Mohd Na'im Mokhtar to deal with the state governments on this matter.
"He is there to listen and to convey the federal government's interests. While we cannot just sit back and do nothing we have to make an effort. We hope that without having adults telling them they need to get married, they can make up their own minds and have the awareness that he or she should not be married at a very young age," she said.
