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DAP: Child Act never amended to address child marriages
Published:  Apr 13, 2016 7:00 PM
Updated: 11:41 AM

DAP assistant national publicity secretary Teo Nie Ching has refuted claims by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nancy Shukri that the Child Act 2001 was amended to require the chief minister or menteri besar's consent for underage marriages, arguing that it is neither new nor included in the recently-passed bill amending the act.

"First of all, the recently-passed amended Child Act 2001 does not involve any amendment regarding child marriage, nor does it impose any new condition for child marriage. The admission came from the deputy minister of women, family and community development (Azizah Mohd Dun) in her reply to the debate on the amendments bill," Teo said in a statement.

She referred to the parliamentary reply from Azizah to PKR's Kuala Kedah MP Azman Ismail who asked if the amendments to the act included matters relating to child marriages.

According to Teo, Azizah in her reply said that the ministry did not include matters pertaining to child marriages in the amendments to the Child Act as the matter falls under different statutes, other departments in other ministries as well as under state powers.

Teo was contradicting the claim by Nancy ( photo ) yesterday that minors who want to get married must get written consent from the menteri besar or chief minister in their respective states, as per new requirements included in the recently-passed amended Child Act to prevent marriage involving underage girls.

And while the matter never came up in the Child Act amendments, Teo also said that consent for marriages involving underage girls is also not a new requirement.

"It is a long existing requirement for marriage for civil law. Section 10 of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 provides that the legal minimum age for marriage under civil law for both genders is 18, while marriages involving girls above 16 but under 18 must require consent from the state menteri besar or chief minister," she said.

Teo noted that while Nancy may have been wrongly advised, it is erroneous to give the impression that the recently-amended Child Act has provided better protection against child marriage.

"In contrast, one of Pakatan Harapan MPs' biggest criticisms against the amended bill was that the bill has failed to address the issue of child marriage," added the Kulai MP.

Nevertheless, Teo said that she appreciated Nancy’s acknowledgement that child marriage is a very serious issue and should be curbed, adding that it was the right call to adopt a United Nations resolution to end child marriage at the Human Rights Council in October 2013.

Nancy's view, said Teo, is more promising compared to that of Azizah who said that the UN resolution is “not binding” when being questioned when the government is going to fulfil its promise to end child marriage during the debate of the bill.

"Even if the resolution is not legally binding, don’t we have a moral obligation to fulfil it? Is adopting the UN resolution to end child marriage merely a diplomatic hypocrisy or does our government really has the political will to honour its words?" asked Teo.

The Child Act (amendment bill) was passed by the Dewan Rakyat during the recent sitting but has yet to be deliberated by the Dewan Negara. Among the arguments made by the opposition against the bill is that it does not address the issue of child marriages.

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