‘Such a bad experience’: Child marriages in Malaysia continue amid calls for laws to change
- ‘Kids are kids and to expect a 16-year-old to be mature enough to be married is wrong’, says Malaysian woman who married at 17
- Child marriages have increased during the pandemic as families fend off financial pressure; South Asia has the world’s highest rate of child marriage
Seven years ago, Lia (not her real name) was just months away from sitting for the national examination to get her high school certificate when she found out she was pregnant. The 17-year-old dropped out of school but still sat her final exams, scoring an A for English and Cs and Ds for other subjects. It was enough for her to qualify for pre-university education but she decided instead to marry her then-boyfriend, who was 32.
Lia, now 24, said her mother, who had raised her as a single parent after getting divorced, supported her decision.
“My mother agreed as she thought getting married would help ‘tame’ me,” said Lia, referring to how, as a teenager, she would go out late at night and rebel against her mother’s instructions.
It was legal for Lia to marry because Muslims in Malaysia, who are subject to sharia or Islamic law under the country’s dual-legal system, only need to be 16. Under secular law that applies to non-Muslims, who make up 28.7 per cent of the 32.7 million population, both parties have to be at least 18 to get hitched.
Looking back, Lia says she regrets her decision even though she enjoys parenting her son, who is now seven.
She suffered from post-partum depression and exhaustion in the early years of her marriage. Her husband had worked odd jobs before they married but he refused to continue doing so, so seven months after giving birth, she was forced to get a job in a pet shop as a sales assistant. She earned US$215 (RM900) a month.
“I am just lucky that my own father had cared for the baby [when he was born]. He paid hospital bills and provided the necessary care for the baby,” Lia said.
