BANGI: There is a need to establish a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to determine the eligibility of underage marriage applicants.
A senior lecturer from the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Dr Mohd Al-Adib Samuri, said a study on Child Marriage in Malaysia conducted in several states found that the process of approving marriages was not standardised, resulting in the lack of transparency in determining the applicants’ eligibility.
The survey was carried out by Al-Adib, together with UKM’s Women, Family and Child Law lecturer, Prof Datuk Noor Aziz Awal, for United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef Malaysia).
Al-Adib said there were children who were allowed to get married based on the discretion of the Syariah court judge, while others involved interviews conducted on the bride-to-be and their parents.
He said there were instances where the boy was not required to be present during the application process.
“Applications for underage marriage should be approached in a holistic manner (and) involved reports from the Welfare Department.
“Other aspects like health checks by medical officers and report by the police are needed to verify whether there was any crime element involved.
“The complete report would serve as a supporting document for the judge in determining the eligibility of the applicants,” he said during a discussion on Syariah Issues and Laws 2018, which also touched on underage marriage from the perspective of Malaysian laws organised by UKM’s Contemporary Fiqh and Syariah Compliance Centre.
The study, which started 10 months ago, also covered 2,143 syariah court files from 2011 to 2016 in seven states and interview with 140 married children.
He said most of the marriage applications were made because the couples “sudah terlanjur” (a Malay saying loosely translated as the deed was done for couples who had sex out-of-wedlock).
“The children may have knowledge about sexual relationship without having understanding about the responsibilities that come with the marriage. This may lead them to face pressure in the future; that was our focus,” he said.
Meanwhile, the centre’s senior lecturer Prof Madya Dr Zaini Nasohah said the child marriage is a global issue that transcended the racial and religious boundaries.
He said the issue had been discussed for decades and was highlighted by women’s associations that later influenced the country’s environment.
“Getting married during the teenage years was not uncommon in the 1930s. However, in keeping up with the times and due to external demands, the situation (in Malaysia) started to change and the law covering Muslim families was amended to the Islamic Family Law in 1983, which was modeled after the Egyptian law,” he said.
He said there was a need to review the existing laws and that the child marriage issue must be addressed in a fair and holistic manner.
Also present was UKM’s law lecturer Dr Wafaa Yusof.