Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching reminded UMNO today that underage marriage is by no means a way out of “unforeseen circumstances” that Tasek Gelugor MP Shabudin Yahya had alluded to in opposing the child marriage ban supported by the DAP.

Teo was responding to the UMNO MP who had said yesterday that the restriction proposed by former would victimize individuals caught in “unforeseen circumstances”.

“I believe he was referring to pregnant underage girls; in Malaysia, having sex with a female below 16 is statutory rape, based on Section 376 of the Penal code”

She added that forcing a girl to get married under those circumstances in akin to “sweeping rubbish under the carpet”.

“Girls are not brides,” she said.

Instead of marriage, the Kulai MP said that individuals in that category should undergo counseling and be given education. Marriage merely perpetuates the problem, she said, adding that married children are often forced to stop schooling.

“In that situation, marriage is not a solution, it creates more problems.”

“When those under 18 can’t even choose their government, how can we give them the right to choose their husbands at the age?”

“His (Shabudin’s) comments make no sense,” Teo said.

Yesterday, Shabudin had rebutted DAP’s call to ban under aged marriages regardless of race, saying that the restriction would victimize individuals caught in “unforeseen circumstances”.

“Sometimes, if the marriage does not take place… it could jeopardise their situation,”he was quoted saying yesterday in response to Teo Nie Ching calls to fufill Malaysia’s pledge to stop all under-aged marriage following a United Nation’s resolution to end child marriage at the Human Rights Council last year.

Shabudin also said that there were enough safeguards in the law to prevent the abuse of child marriage, insisting that marriage is a way out for some cases.

“If you suggest that the legislation is amended, without a way out, we will have problems,” he said, without going into detail on the nature of the problems.

Teo had initially highlighted in Parliament that the legal age for marriage for Muslim males and females are 18 and 16 respectively, but with the permission of the Syariah court, Muslims were allowed to marry at any age.

She called for a ban on child marriages regardless of religion, saying that Malaysia had adopted a United Nations resolution to end child, early and forced marriage at the Human Rights Council in October last year.

Based on the 2000 Population and Housing Census, it was revealed that 4,600 boys and 6,800 girls under the age of 15 were married. Out of the 6,800 underaged girls who were married, Malays recorded 2,450 incidents, followed by other Bumiputeras 1,550, Chinese 1,600, Indians 600 and others 600.

Although the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act for non-Muslims disallows marriages for couples below the age of 18, a total of 4,350 underage marriages amongst non-Muslims shows the result of lacklustre enforcement of the law.

In Malaysia, children below the age of 16 are not allowed to vote, drive, buy alcohol, be contractually employed, or watch certain movies without being accompanied by an adult. -The Rocket