SARAWAK has been reported as one of the states with highest child marriage cases in the country, hence, the New Sarawak Tribune has spoken to Sarawak Women, Child Development and Community Welfare Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah – to have a deeper understanding on the situation and the challenges in ending child marriage in Sarawak.
Child marriage, she said, was indeed a complex and complicated issue as it involves several jurisdictions of marriage law, culture and custom due to the characteristics of the Sarawak’s plural society
She does not deny that the current statutes that allow girls below 18 years old to marry was among the factors leading to the high number of child marriages in Sarawak.
However, it was necessary to look into other aspects, including the stigma or belief that marriage was a form of protection; and norms or culture to strengthen social bonds as in the findings of the Research on the Profile of Pregnant Teenagers in Sarawak (2021).
“Besides, there are other reasons such as pockets of poverty, school dropouts, poor or lack of sexual education or sexual reproductive health awareness and when (underage) pregnancy happens out of wedlock,” she said.
“When a pregnancy happens out of wedlock, involving teenagers – the major concerns would be – who will be taking care of the child? Should they (couple) be allowed to get married? If they don’t, then the teenager is likely to end up as a single mother. So, this is the dilemma…,” she said.
“Of course, it is a different scenario if it involves sexual abuse and violence,” she added.
To look at a bigger picture, Fatimah said, teenage pregnancy was actually closely related with child marriage, as most young girls (with consent from parents) decided to get married as they were already pregnant.
“If we can bring down the number of teenage pregnancy, it also helps to reduce the number of child marriage cases.”
“We are serious to end child marriage in Sarawak, but it will not solve the issue completely if teenage pregnancy continues to happen or increase,” she added.
A total of 1,638 underage individuals got married in Sarawak from 2017 to 2020, where 500 of them were recorded as marrying underage according to Syariah or Islamic law. Meanwhile, 1,138 individuals were recorded marrying underage customarily (customary child marriage).
Although both Syariah and customary child marriages had shown an increasing trend from 2017 to 2019, the cases had dropped significantly in 2020.
Fatimah said child marriages under Syariah law decreased by 11.67 per cent in 2020 to 121 people compared to 137 in the previous year. For the period of January – February 2021, a total of 18 individuals were recorded as marrying underage according to Syariah/Islam.
Meanwhile, customary child marriages also dropped by 41.19 per cent in 2020 to 226 people compared to 391 in the previous. For the period January – February 2021, a total of 15 individuals were recorded marrying underage customarily.
“We believed that the movement control order (MCO), various restrictions and standard operating procedure (SOP) during the pandemic had actually contributed in bringing down the cases – as the teenagers or underage individuals were unable to move around freely.”
“Besides, various events and activities had been cancelled, among others,” she said.
What need to be done to reduce/ to end child marriage in Sarawak?
Fatimah said to address the issue of underage or child marriage, legislation needs to be clear and tightened to protect the rights of children, especially girls; provide awareness and advocacy to the community about the impact of child marriage, children’s rights; and implement social interventions for vulnerable children.
“While we fight for legislating the minimum age of marriage at 18 years old, I call for children to continue to be given access to education and attendance at school (at least) up to Form Five.”
“Giving children access to education or vocational training, particularly the disadvantaged and low-income groups, would provide them with a brighter future and out of poverty.
“With education, they are empowered to make better decisions in their lives including when and who they want to marry,” she said.
Apart from that, she said, underpinning knowledge and skills on sexual and reproductive health contributes to children’s positive mental health and awareness of the effects of child marriage.
However, educating all parties on the issues of child marriage and teenage pregnancy should be a collective responsibility, from parents to schools, religious and customary institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community leaders and the community themselves.
“All of us must take collective actions to give children the opportunity to enjoy their childhood, address the stigma and address the culture and customs associated with child marriage.”
Challenges to raise the minimum legal marriageable age to 18 in Sarawak
Fatimah said the stigma on culture and norms in Sarawak’s diverse ethnic population, differing levels of literacy and pockets of poverty were apparently the current obstacle to the efforts to push for the rights of girls and the issues related to child marriage.
Thus, she said, Sarawak needs a systemic effort, including parenting education for parents to understand the rights of children as well as sexual education for parents and their children.
“We need more engagement, involvement and commitment of the community leaders and conduct robust awareness and advocacy activities through public, private and civil society organisations.”
“The issue of underage marriage is a collective responsibility and actions that must cut across public and private sectors; political divides and civil societies for the sake of sustainable community well-being in Sarawak.”
“We hope that after much education, awareness and advocacy, our communities are ready to embrace and accept legislations to increase the minimum age for marriage and ban child marriage,” she said.
