The problem with conversations on child marriage

COMMENT | A few weeks ago, a few journalists met me to ask if I could connect them with child brides for interviews. They were not the first, and I am quite sure that despite this article, they will not be the last to make such a request.

When I informed them of the sensitivities when it came to interviewing children, they told me that the visual image of a child was essential in putting the point across and in spreading awareness that child marriages still exist in Malaysia today.

I offered statistics. In July 2018, Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Hannah Yeoh announced that 14,999 child marriages were recorded between 2007 and 2017, with approximately 10,000 of them being Muslims.

The numbers tell us that on average, four children are being married every day in our country.

If that is not enough to prove the prevalence of child marriages in our country, the shocking revelation that an 11-year-old girl got married to a 41-year-old man as his third wife in Gua Musang, less than a year ago, still haunts the conversations of many Malaysians...