PETALING JAYA: The government is in the process of raising the minimum marriage age to 18, said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (pic).

She said she chaired a meeting on Sept 13 with all the relevant stakeholders on this issue.

“The best interest of the child must always be considered,” she said in a statement yesterday.

Dr Wan Azizah, who is also Women, Family and Community Development Minister, said a paper would be prepared by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and her ministry to raise the marriage age for Muslims.

The paper would be presented to the meeting of mentris besar and chief ministers to garner support from the states to raise the legal minimum age.

“A Cabinet paper is also being prepared to raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 for non-Muslims,” she said.

As for customary marriages, she said the respective customary heads would be informed of the dangers of underage marriages to the health and safety of the child.

Wan Azizah, however, said amending the law would take time and that in the meantime, they would be meeting the Department of Syariah Judiciary Malaysia on stricter and more thorough guidelines for Syariah court judges in approving child marriages.

She said she had also spoken to Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa and Datuk Liew Vui Keong to look into the loopholes and inconsistencies between Syariah and civil laws in relation to child marriages.

Dr Wan Azizah, who had been criticised for saying that a 15-year-old girl in Kelantan had given her consent to marrying a 44-year-old divorcee and that both of them “mutually liked” one another, also made a clarification of her comments.

“What I said was just a descriptive statement of what the child explained to my officers,” she said.

Marriage, she said, should not be used as a way out of poverty.

She added that she had instructed her officers to examine current laws to ensure the welfare of children were taken care of.

“Amending laws is only part of the solution. A holistic approach must include education, welfare nets, poverty education and support systems.

“The protection and rights of children is of paramount interest to me and I will not compromise on that matter,” she said.