Outrage in Malaysia After Man Marries 11-Year-Old Thai Girl as Third Wife
The marriage of a 41-year-old Malaysian man to an underaged Thai girl has set off criticism from all sides across Malaysia. An official has come out on Sunday, July 1, saying that the union was illegal, having been done without the consent of the Syariah Court.
Malaysian Muslims below the age of 16 are permitted to marry provided they have the approval of a religious court, which was not the case with this wedding, according to Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
The wedding between the Malaysian man and the 11-year-old Thai girl took place on June 18 in Thailand's Muslim-majority southern region, making the underaged girl his third wife. The husband could now stand to be imprisoned for six months for marrying without permission.
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The story went viral online after it was shared by the man's second wife, according to the Straits Times. It was also her who filed a police complaint at the Gua Musang police station in Kelantan on Saturday, June 30.
Child welfare advocates have long decried the practice to end child marriage in the country, which activists say is common among the Muslim population. An estimated 16,000 Malaysian girls younger than 15 years old are already in such child marriages, according to advocates via The Guardian.
"Marrying an 11-year-old girl is like the behaviour of a child predator or paedophile," Syed Azmi Alhabshi, a child activist, said about the story of the Thai girl.
Meanwhile, the groom has insisted that he will uphold his marriage with his child bride despite the outpouring of outrage, promising that he will secure a marriage certificate by the time she turns 16 so that they can live together. He is expected to be 46 years old by then.
"I am looking at this issue carefully to take legal action because of these inaccurate accusations," he said in defense, adding that he and the parents of the bride have agreed for the couple to live separately while remaining married.
