AUGUST 1 — The news that a 41-year old man taking a 11-year old girl as his third wife is indeed shocking and as expected, this news is being played out as “Non-Muslims” versus “Muslim” as the defenders of such “Child Marriages” are using religion to justify the continued existence of such unholy unions.

However, we should firstly define “Child Marriage” so that this term is not abused by irresponsible parties like the 41-year old man in question.

“Child Marriage” should only be defined as “Marriage between a male and female where both the male and female in question are below the legal age of marriage.  The legal age of marriage should be set at no lower than 18-years old”

When a male (or female) is above the legal age of marriage and intends to marry a female (or male where a female is the party over the legal age) who is underage, such unions should not be classified as “Child Marriage” but “Acts of Paedophilia”.  When alerted of such potential “Acts of Paedophilia”, the Government should take the following actions:

(a) Remove the party who is below the legal age of marriage from potential danger and place her (or him) in welfare home or another secure location

(b) Detain the parents of the party who is below the legal age of marriage and investigate the parents for being accessory to child sexual abuse, human trafficking, etc

(c) If the marriage has not been consummated, send the adult person for psychiatric evaluation and treatment such as mandatory chemical castrations

(d) If the marriage has already been consummated, the adult party must be charged for statutory rape and be given the maximum jail sentence and canning

To put it simply, there is no other term to call a 41-year old man who intends to marry a girl who is only 11-years old and is the same age as his daughter other than a “Paedophile” and such paedophiles are a danger to society at large.  In any developed country, the State has an obligation to act when made aware of such dangers by arresting such suspected paedophiles and sending them for mandatory psychiatric evaluation and treatment (such as chemical castraction).

However, we live in a unique country called Malaysia where it is possible for such acts to be justified under the pretext of religion.  It further gets complicated when Non-Muslims condemn such “Acts of Paedophilia” as it is seen as an attack by the “kafir” against Islam.  As a Non-Muslim, I only wish to offer the following rebuttal for supporters of such “Child Marriages”:

"Please ask your own daughter to marry someone who is at least 2-times or 3-times first before condoning such unions . If you have not given your own daughter as a “Child Bride”, you have no business condoning “Acts of Paedophilia”.

It is important for Muslim community leaders and politicians speak up against such “Acts of Paedophilia” and frankly speaking, the silence from Muslim leaders and politicians from both Bersatu and Amanah leaders on this issue is indeed disappointing and PKR only offered a muted response. 

Until and unless more Muslims leaders and politicians speak up against such unholy unions, Malaysia will continue to male world headlines for all the wrong reasons.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.