#DalamBerita: Lawyers’ group defends MP who spoke on child marriages
KUALA LUMPUR – March 6, 2017 : The Concerned Lawyers for Justice (CLJ) movement is defending a member of parliament who was strongly criticised for suggesting that underaged rape victims should be allowed to marry their rapists. Its secretary-general Fatihah Jamhari, in a Facebook post, said she spent hours watching the recording of Tasek Gelugor MP Datuk Shahbudin Yahaya’s debate in parliament and concluded that the media had misquoted him. Shahbudin, a former syariah court judge, was embroiled in the controversy two days ago after he had clashed with DAP’s Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching, who had proposed a provision to bar all forms of child marriages in the Sexual Offences against Children Bill. He argued that Teo’s proposal would contradict and nullify certain provisions in the country’s syariah laws. The legal minimum age for marriage in Malaysia is 18. Both civil and syariah laws prohibit marriage with minors except if consent is obtained from syariah court. This provision in the Islamic...