Banning child marriage easier via Rulers: Minister
Published on: Friday, November 22, 2019
BUTTERWORTH: De facto Religious Affairs Minister Mujahid Yusof Rawa (pic) said the question over child marriages among Muslims could be resolved by Malay rulers.
He said many states, while accepting the idea of banning child marriages, did not have the will to legalise the ban through state laws.
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Mujahid said this was because some states held the view that it was “not something obligatory” and permission to marry a minor should depend on the situation.
He said the underpinning reason was the autonomy bestowed on all states to deal with Islamic laws.
“We have spoken to all state Islamic councils to limit underage marriages but there are some states that still do not want to implement it.
“It appears that some states do not have the will to do so, with the exception of Selangor, Penang, Melaka and a few others. Ultimately, the state governments have the authority to ban it to protect the larger interests of the people.
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“If the Conference of Rulers decides on this (ban on child marriages), then the respective state Islamic religious affairs councils or Islamic departments will adhere to the decision,” he said on the sidelines of an event here.
Mujahid said the other way to convince states to legalise the ban on child marriages was through the National Islamic Affairs Council, which convenes thrice a year.
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He said the council, headed by the prime minister, could convince the respective menteris besar, Islamic affairs exco members and religious affairs council chiefs why the ban was necessary.
He said the ban on child marriages had been raised at these meetings before. He was responding to a question on why child marriages are yet to be banned in the country.
Separately, Mujahid said a call to ban the sale and consumption of alcoholic drinks in public places was “not strange” and would do a whole lot of good, especially in preventing drink driving.
He said people must not see this call only from the religious angle and see whether it will benefit society.
He also said Putrajaya is planning to reform Islamic laws in the country by 2020.
With the Compassionate Islam policy as guidance, he said Shariah laws need to focus more on rehabilitating offenders rather than punishing them.
He said under the Islamic laws, the punishments for offences such as those who “cross-dress” included caning, fines or jail sentences. These laws have been used to criminalise and stigmatise transgender persons.
Mujahid insisted that such laws have existed even before the current Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration took over.
“We have to go through all these laws and I appointed a new committee of Shariah and civil laws to look through all these laws,” he said.
He added that the committee has a benchmark to ensure that the Islamic laws are shifted from punitive to rehabilitative.
“We want to shift to rehabilitative laws so that those who committed such crimes are given rehabilitation instead of being punished,” he said, referring to cases of transgender Muslims being sentenced to caning.
Despite that, medical and gender experts have questioned authorities for trying to “rehabilitate” transgenders, insisting they need medical care to transition them into their affirmed gender identities rather than rehabilitation to return them to what some may consider “normal”.
He added that his ministry has been successful in introducing Compassionate Islam and this is evidenced by him being invited for an interview on BBC’s Hardtalk.
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