00:00Malaysia once promised to end child marriage.
00:03But Hartini Zainuddin, co-founder of Yayasan Chowkit, asks a simple question.
00:10What happened to that promise?
00:13In an opinion piece to FMT, Hartini said the government promised to end child marriage in 2018 and began working
00:20on new laws.
00:22Since then, governments have changed and the promise has not been fulfilled.
00:27The National Strategy Plan in Handling the Causes of Child Marriage was launched in 2020.
00:34It involved 61 agencies, 17 strategies, and 58 programs.
00:40That plan expired in 2025.
00:44Hartini says no public progress report has been tabled and no government has properly answered for it.
00:51The numbers may look good on paper.
00:53However, registered child marriages fell from 1,467 in 2019 to 923 in 2023.
01:03But Hartini says 923 children married in one year is not progress to celebrate.
01:09It is a crisis that continues.
01:12And those are only the registered cases.
01:15Only Salangor and Kedah have raised the minimum marriage age to 18.
01:20Even then, both states still allow exceptions with approval from Sharia judges.
01:27Other states have either delayed reforms or refused them outright.
01:32Hartini says Malaysia's state-by-state approach has created inconsistent protection for children.
01:40She points to Sarawak as an example of what serious engagement can look like.
01:46The state is consulting communities on setting the minimum marriage age at 18 across civil, sharia, and customary laws.
01:54For Hartini, this proves one thing.
01:58Protecting children and respecting culture do not have to be in conflict.
02:03She says banning child marriage does not ban religious ceremonies, customs, or traditions.
02:10It simply means the law will not recognize a marriage where one party is still a child.
02:16Hartini called on the federal government to immediately table the progress report on the expired national plan.
02:22She also wants federal law to set 18 as the minimum marriage age for all Malaysians.
02:28She also urged the federal government to require all states to align their laws within a clear timeline and accountability
02:36mechanism.
02:37Her message is clear.
02:39No child should be handed to a spouse by law.
02:44Read Hartini Zainuddin's full letter,
02:46What Happened to Banning Child Marriage?
02:49Only on FMT.
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