‘Couples tend to register by year end’
KOTA BARU: Many couples from Kelantan who tied the knot in southern Thailand would usually choose to register their marriages with the religious departments in their districts at the end of the year.
Kelantan syarie chief prosecutor Zaini Sulaiman said such couples selected the last three months of the year to register their marriages as they believed their registrations could be settled promptly, thus enabling them to register their children “officially” in the first month of the following year.
“Most of these couples tied the knot in Thailand because they faced problems, such as the woman being pregnant or carrying children out of wedlock. After they marry across the border, they need to register their marriage with the local religious department.
“However, many procrastinate. They tend to register at the last minute. They normally (register their marriages with the department) on their favourite months, which are the last three months of the year,” he told the New Straits Times Press at his office here.
Zaini said there were couples who tied the knot with underage girls and decided to register their marriage once the girls reached 16.
He said 417 people were fined by the court here for marrying across the border without consent since early this year.
He said another 258 men were fined for practising polygamy without the consent of the court, also in Thailand.
“These couples were married in several regions in southern Thailand, including Narathiwat.
“A majority of them were from Pasir Putih, Gua Musang and Tumpat, and they were fined up to RM1,000 each, including those who married underage girls.” Records under the Malaysian Syariah Judiciary Department showed that 5,362 applications to marry Muslim girls under the age of 18, were recorded since Jan 2013 until December last year.
In July, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail told the Dewan Rakyat that of the total number of marriages involving Muslim girls under the age of 18, 440 of those applications were recorded in Johor, while another 389 applications were in Kedah.
Dr Wan Azizah had said Sarawak recorded the highest number of applications with 918, followed by Kelantan and Sabah (793), Terengganu (407), Selangor (385), Pahang (354), Perak (266), Federal Territory (178), Negri Sembilan (155) and 91 in Melaka.
An NSTP report on Tuesday revealed a third case of underage marriage in Kelantan in recent months.
The marriage involved a 15year-old girl, who tied the knot with a 44year-old People’s Volunteer Corp member, who is a father of two.
The girl is the man’s second wife, and the union was approved by the Syariah Court as the akad nikah (solemnisation of vows) occurred in Tumpat in July.
Her parents said poverty drove them into giving their consent to their youngest daughter’s marriage with the man.
In an earlier case, which drew uproar from rights groups, a Malaysian rubber trader married an 11-year-old girl from Thailand in Sungai Golok, on June 18.
The girl was a friend of the rubber tapper’s daughter.
The man was charged at the Gua Musang lower syariah court and ordered to pay RM1,800 as a fine for marrying without approval and getting into a polygamous marriage without consent.
On July 22, the marriage between a 19-year-old from Terengganu and a 13-year-old girl from Kelantan, made headlines.
They tied the knot in Tumpat on June 20.