CH A PT E R 2 As such, SUHAKAM urges lawmakers to ensure that due process is adhered to by authorities and to remove unconstitutional laws from the legal system of a country that considers itself a democracy. 4. Child marriage Over the past decade, Malaysia has registered about 15,0005 marriages involving children; 10,000 of those underage marriages were Muslim couples, while 4,999 were non-Muslim couples.6 For now, child marriage in Malaysia is not necessarily illegal. The marriageable age for non-Muslims under civil law is 18 years. However, a female who is 16 years of age and above but under 18 years of age, may be married after obtaining a special marriage licence from the Chief Minister under section 21(2) of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976. For Muslim girls, the minimum age for marriage is 16. Additionally, a Syariah Court judge may give permission for the marriage of a girl below 16. This highlights the discriminatory nature of the laws in Malaysia on the age of marriage for males and females. This year, Malaysia was once again dragged into the international spotlight when a 41-year-old man married an 11-year-old girl in Kelantan with the blessing of the girl’s parents. The groom contended that he married the girl in order to help the family. While this brought about fierce objections against child marriages, there were also bizarre arguments from certain quarters defending such marriages, including arguing that child marriage was a ‘necessity’ in a certain state and was in accordance with religion.7 From a human rights standpoint, it has been stressed constantly that child marriages are grave human rights violations that significantly impacts a child’s right to health, education, equality, non-discrimination and to live free from violence and exploitation. In such cases, the best interests of the child are clearly put secondary to the interests and desires of an adult. Furthermore, SUHAKAM is of the view that laws that allow child marriages may be regarded as legalising paedophilia.8 At the international level, the United Nations General Assembly passed a historic resolution in 2012 on child, early and forced marriage urging “all States to enact, enforce 5 6 7 8 Yiswaree Palansamy, “Reject lawmakers with ‘perverted’ mindset, Selangor Speaker tells women’, Malaymail (Kuala Lumpur, 5 April 2017) <https://www.malaymail.com/s/1349589/reject-lawmakers-with-perverted-mindsets-selangorspeaker-tells-women> Ibid. Yimmie Yong, Zakiah Koya, R. Aravinthan, “Kelantan: Underage marriage is necessary”, The Star online (30 November 2018) <ttps://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/11/30/kelantan-underage-marriage-is-necessary/> accessed 10 January 2019 SUHAKAM, “Press Statement 24/2018: Child Marriage”, SUHAKAM (Kuala Lumpur, 1 July 2018) <https://www.suhakam. org.my/2018/07/> accessed 13 January 2019 SUHAKAM ANNUAL REPORT 2018 103