On 15th January 2020, the then Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Wan Azizah who was also Minister for Women, Family and Community Development launched the National Strategy Plan in Handling Causes of Child Marriage. It was a five-year plan outlined 17 strategies and involved 61 agencies spanning 58 programmes. The aim was to raise awareness, change perception and stigma related to underaged marriage issues in the society,” and would address 6 main contributing factors leading to child marriages:-
- low household income and poverty;
- lack or no access to sexual reproductive health education and parenting skills;
- lack of access to education and poor school attendance;
- stigma and social norms that dictate that underaged marriage is the best solution to address problems;
- loose laws that provide for marriage under the age of 18;
- coordination of marital data and underage divorce.
In exactly 39 days, the Sheraton Move happened and Pakatan Harapan was no longer in Government and a cocktail of characters became the new Government in Malaysia and Datuk Seri Rina, MP for Titiwangsa became the new Minister for the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development, with Siti Zailah, MP for Rantau Panjang as her trusted deputy. Despite her lacklustre performance, I hoped beyond hope that she will follow through with the initiative to eradicate child marriages in Malaysia.
To date, she has made one public statement citing that the Perikatan Nasional Government is committed to addressing child marriages in March 2021 through Facebook at the launch of the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund’s (UNICEF) advocacy brief on ending child marriage in support of the National Strategy Plan in Handling the Causes of Child Marriage launched by PH in January 2020.
How far has the National Strategy Plan in Handling Causes of Child Marriage come since its 24th August 2020 meeting and another on 19 January 2021 where a meeting was organised by the Malaysia Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) with the heads of Islamic Religious Departments from all states and the Chief Judge of the Department of Syariah Judiciary?
Has there been any follow up since?
Last year, in a Parliamentary reply to my question on the Government’s initiative to end child marriages, Minister in Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Religious Affairs Idris Ahmad stated that 16 was going to stay as the age of marriage for Muslim girls. 2885 approvals were given for underage Muslim marriages from 1 September 2015 till 31 August 2018 and 2098 approved applications from 1 September 2018 till 31 October 2021 – 787 lesser. No statistic was shared on non-Muslim children in his answer.
Unsurprisingly there was no reaction by Rina Harun, in spite of her ministry spearheading the 6-year rolling plan to eradicate child marriages in Malaysia. What is Siti Zailah’s stand, as Deputy Women’s Minister on the remark made by her fellow PAS party member Idris Ahmad on child marriages?
Silence over the best interest of children?
It has been 27 years since Malaysia ratified and became a state party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Article 24(3) of the CRC states “to take all effective, and appropriate measures with a view to abolishing traditional practices prejudicial, to the health of the children” which was mentioned by Rina Harun herself in her International Women’s Day speech in March 2021, and this certainly includes child marriages as a form of violation against them.
After over 2 years of lip service on eradicating child marriages in Malaysia, I call upon Rina Harun and Siti Zailah to report to Parliament on the progress of the National Strategy Plan in Handling Causes of Child Marriage from 15 January 2020 to date and to be made available for SUHAKAM, members of civil society, the Malaysian Bar Council and the general public to evaluate for themselves how far we have come in ending child marriages.
As Minister, Rina must muster courage to lobby, convince and advocate that she is on the side of children and not play politics for her own political survival. She should include lawmakers from both sides as well as valuable stakeholders like members of civil society, SUHAKAM, the Malaysian Bar Council, UNICEF, Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) and many others to be partners in her campaign to end child marriages in Malaysia.
Anything less of this would be a clear indication that Rina and her group of merry women and men are part of the problem and not the solution.