SOPs soon to halt child marriages

THE GOVERNMENT will introduce tighter standard operating procedures (SOPs) to temporarily stop child marriages or marriages involving minors pending a law being put into place, according to Minister in charge of religious affairs Datuk Mujahid Yusof Rawa.

Mujahid said this is just a stopgap measure by the government, as it intends to fully ban child marriages.

“We are coming up with a procedure to tighten child marriage because as long as there is a provision in the law for it, you have to respect that,” he said while speaking to the media at the Parliament lobby.

“This is just a temporary measure, we should look to ban child marriage in the longterm, that is very important.”

He clarified that these SOPs are for syariah courts and he is expected to look at them by month’s end.

“It would be within this month, they would come up with it and show it to me,” he said.

Mujahid, however, said the issue was particularly complex and riddled with technicalities.

“We are facing technical problems, we have to amend the law, we have a lot of stakeholders. We need syariah law and a civil law that allows (for the marriage) with permission (on condition).

“However, theoretically speaking such an act would be unprecedented in Malaysia.”

However, Mujahid said everyone would have to be consulted before such a move was made as the state’s role was supreme in Islamic and syariah matters.

“We have to consult with everyone. Not overiding (state laws), that is the technical problem I am talking about.”

The implementation of the SOPs comes following public outcry over the marriage between a 41-year-old man and an 11-year-old girl in Kelantan.

The Gua Musang syariah lower court had fined the man RM1,800, who was charged with solemnising a marriage and committing polygamy without permission.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail was previously reported as saying that the marriage was recognised from the perspective of Islamic laws (hukum), but not from the legal perspective.

According to the Islamic Family Law Enactment, which applies in all states, the minimum legal age for marriage is 18 for a male and 16 for a woman.

Those under the legal minimum age will only be permitted to get married if they get the consent of the syariah court.