Malaysian man, 41, plans to stay married to girl, 11

GUA MUSANG, KELANTAN The Malaysian groom is 41 and already has two wives.

The bride is 11.

Both insist on staying married despite the storm of controversy in Malaysia surrounding their nuptials.

The wedding ceremony in Sungai Golok, southern Thailand, on June 18, was attended by the girl's parents.

The girl, who has never been to school, said she is in love the man and has no problems being his third wife.

She said: "His children are my friends. We were staying behind his house for many years.

"I have loved him since I was nine."

The girl's parents are Thai nationals and her father, who wanted to be known only as Mat, said he agreed to accept the marriage proposal because his daughter had agreed to it.

"Furthermore, my son-in-law is a good man. But we will only allow her to live with her husband after she turns 16.

"She will stay with us for the next five years. She is still a child," he said.

The man told The Star that he married the girl because they have been in love for three years.

He said he first met her when she accompanied her mother, who was working at his first wife's restaurant.

"We made an 'agreement' for a nikah secara gantung ('suspended engagement') first. My wife will live with her parents until she is 16.

"When she reaches that age, then we will make a confirmation of the marriage with the religious councils in Thailand and Malaysia," he said.

The man, who has six children aged five to 18, feels he has not done anything wrong because he married the girl with the permission of her parents.

He also claimed that he obtained the consent of his own parents and that of his first wife.

When contacted, the second wife said she had heard talk that her husband would marry again, but he had assured both wives he would never marry a child.

"What angers me is that he married my child's friend," she said, adding she wanted a divorce as she could not stand her husband anymore.

He may not have his way if Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail has anything to do about it.

She said the government is taking the matter seriously.

Dr Wan Azizah, the Women, Family and Community Development Minister, said she had received a report on the case and had instructed welfare officers to gather more details.

"Our officers have gone to the house and met with the girl's mother. We are waiting for more reports before deciding on the next course of action," she said.

Dr Wan Azizah said she was looking at the case from several aspects, such as whether poverty, education level or the family of the girl led to her getting married at such a tender age.

In Petaling Jaya, women's groups and social activists blasted the man for taking the girl as his third wife and called on the authorities to act. They urged the government to take legislative action to put an end to child marriage in the country.

The Joint Action Group for Gender Equality said this must be done by raising the marriageable age to 18.

For Muslims in Malaysia, the minimum age of marriage is 16 for girls and 18 for boys, but exceptions can be made with the Syariah court's consent.

The United Nations children's agency, Unicef, said it was "outraged" by the incident.

"It is shocking and unacceptable. Unicef... calls on the government to make good its manifesto promise to ban child marriage," said the agency's Malaysia representative Marianne Clark-Hattingh.

The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry said in a statement it was unlawful for parents to marry off their children, who were under the legal minimum age, without written consent from a Syariah court's judge. - THE STAR/ANN