Child marriage outrages Malays

Malaysia’s Muslim majority has expressed outrage at a 41-year-old man’s marriage to an 11year-old Thai girl. Malaysian Muslims below the age of 16 are allowed to marry if they obtain the permission of a religious court. But the country’s women and families ministry said there was no record of religious authorities approving the union, which took place last month across the border in Thailand’s largely Muslim far south. The man could be jailed for six months if he married without permission. Malaysian activists have called for law reform to end child marriage, which they said was widespread among the country’s Muslim population. Some 16,000 Malaysian girls below the age of 15 are already married, advocates claim.—