DAP’s Lim Yi Wei said the status of the plan was not included in a written reply by women, family and community development minister Rina Harun.

“How is the ministry measuring the progress of the national strategic plan (in handling the causes of child marriage)?

“What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) for the six factors outlined in the plan?” the Kampung Tunku assemblyman said in a statement.

According to the national plan, the six factors are low household income and poverty; lack of access to sexual reproductive health education and parenting skills; lack of access to education and poor school attendance; stigma on child marriages to address problems; vague laws that provide for marriage under the age of 18; and coordination of marital data and underage divorce.

Lim also called on the ministry to provide figures on the number of child marriages in 2021, noting reports that such unions had taken place despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Pandemic-driven poverty saw families marrying off their daughters to reduce financial stress,” she said.

She also wanted to know who sat in the steering committee and wondered if there was sufficient and diverse representation among the relevant ministries, including the health and education ministries.

Lim went on to chide the ministry’s response to PKR MP Maria Chin Abdullah as “generic”.

“The minister and her deputy should tackle child marriages more aggressively instead of providing generic written replies in Parliament.”

The national plan was launched by then deputy prime minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who was also women, family and community development minister, in 2020.

The five-year plan outlined 17 strategies and involved 61 agencies, spanning 58 programmes.