Poverty main reason for child marriage, not sex, say youth leaders

SHAH ALAM - Youth leaders say poverty is the main reason for child marriage in the country, and this goes beyond race and religion.

Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) Youth Chief Arveent Kathirtchelvan said his party is against child marriage nationwide as it is not about morals but poverty as girls are "auctioned off" for economic reasons.

He was speaking during a Wacana with Sinar Daily titled Dear Youth Leaders, What's Next.

Child marriages continue in Malaysia amid calls for laws to change. Children aged 16 years are considered mature to get married.

Arveent said the issue is above race and religion and involves those from Borneo, and added this points to the failure as such poverty still exists.

"We need to look at the avenues to help them. We need to understand the factors that lead to such marriage and how to overcome them.

Umno Subang Youth Chief, Alfie Zainal said that while banning child marriage remains "dicey" but the main cause is poverty.

"(Before) banning child marriage, we will have to solve the poverty issue first," he said.

He added there is still some resistance to banning child marriage as children out of wedlock remain unsolved.

"When the society is ready, we should ban it but until then we should look at how we should approach the issue," he said.

Political Advocate, Siti Rahayu Baharin said she had spoken to some experts who had said that sex before marriage is more among adults.

"It is not so serious (so much so we need) to get children married off at a young age," she said.