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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Fira Sans";color:#111111">Marriage of 11-Year-Old Girl to a 41-Year-Old Man Provokes Backlash in Malaysia<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><b><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Fira Sans";color:#111111">'It is a violation of her rights. Law reform to set the legal age for marriage at 18 without exception
should be one of the priorities of the new parliament,' says Unicef<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">By
<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/author/mattha-busby" title="Mattha Busby">
<span style="color:#EC1A2E;text-decoration:none">Mattha Busby</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">Malaysia passed a law on sexual offences against children but did not criminalise child marriage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">The marriage of an 11-year old girl to a 41-year-old man has sparked uproar in
<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/Malaysia"><span style="color:#EC1A2E;text-decoration:none">Malaysia</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">The wedding has reignited a debate around underage marriage in a country where there have reportedly
been thousands of recent such cases.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">The girl's Thai parents, who work on a rubber plantation, said they consented for her to become the
third wife of a wealthy Malaysian trader, who apparently already has two wives and six children, so long as she could remain at their home until she was 16.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">The
<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/UnitedNations"><span style="color:#EC1A2E;text-decoration:none">United Nations</span></a> children's agency Unicef said it was outraged by the reports which it called "unacceptable".
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">"If true, it is shocking and unacceptable," said Marianne Clark-Hattingh, Unicef's representative
in Malaysia, in a statement. “It is not in the best interest of the child.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">"It is a violation of her rights. Law reform to set the legal age for marriage at 18 without exception
should be one of the priorities of the new parliament."<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">The Malaysian government said there were no records in the courts or the regional religious office
permitting the marriage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">If there was no written permission from the sharia court then the marriage would be unlawful, it
said.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">"The ministry looks seriously upon underage marriage,” said a statement from the Ministry of Women,
Family and Community Development. “The ministry wants to discuss and cooperate with religious councils to examine and tighten laws so it can eradicate the issue of underage marriage."
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">A task force comprised of state religious councils, government agencies and activists has been formed
to examine the issue, the ministry added.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">"Marrying an 11-year-old girl is like the behaviour of a child predator or paedophile," activist
Syed Azmi Alhabshi told the AFP news agency.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">In Malaysia, the legal minimum age for marriage under civil law is 18.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">However, girls can marry at 16 with the permission of their state's chief minister, while Islamic
law sets a 16-year minimum age for girls and allows even earlier marriages with the permission of a sharia court.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto"><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Indy Serif";color:#111111">Malaysia's English language newspaper, The Star, reported in 2016 that there were more than 9,000
recorded child marriages over the past five years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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