In a parliamentary written reply, Rina said the statistics department reported 1,856 child marriages in 2018, which went down to 1,459 in 2019 and reduced further to 1,124 in 2020.

She said this proved that child marriages were seeing a downward trend, though she did not share any data on the number of child marriages recorded last year.

She also did not state if the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing restrictions implemented by Putrajaya might have led to the drop in 2020.

Responding to a question from Maria Chin Abdullah (PH-Petaling Jaya), Rina said her ministry was implementing its national strategic plan in handling the causes of child marriage, which involves the federal and state governments, NGOs and international organisations.

She said the strategic plan looked at issues across various sectors, such as the law, education, health, parenting, social support and poverty eradication in addressing child marriages at the grassroots level.

“This includes programmes aimed at raising awareness among the community to shift the perceptions and stigma commonly associated with underage marriages,” she said.

She said the ministry has formed a steering committee to monitor the implementation of the strategic plan, which will go on until 2025.