Kepayan assemblyman Jannie Lasimbang pointed out that there was no age limit to marry under customary laws currently, and that child marriage can still be performed with the permission of the district and native chiefs in the native courts.

However, the state government and the Sabah Attorney-General’s Chambers (SAGC) are working on setting the minimum age to marry at 18.

In a statement following a dialogue with native chiefs yesterday, Lasimbang maintained that child marriage was detrimental to children’s health and social wellbeing.

She said the native chiefs had revealed that there was a high divorce rate among child marriages, while the married underage girls who got pregnant often suffered mental stress.

“I understand that the SAGC and a special committee has prepared a Cabinet paper related to the amendment to the rules of the native court enactment and will be presented to the state Cabinet by the local government and housing minister soon.

“I really hope the amendment is approved soon so that the native affairs department, native court training institute and SAGC can train district and native chiefs in dealing with underage marriage applications,” she said.

Lasimbang, a former state assistant minister, said she had started the ball rolling on amending this law when she was in the state government.

She said the amendment was one of several steps that the then Warisan-led administration had taken under its 10-year action plan to end child marriages.

She said the Gabungan Rakyat Sabah-Barisan Nasional administration was going ahead with implementing the action plan, with the state community development and people’s welfare ministry focusing on social education.

Meanwhile, Lasimbang said, the local government and housing ministry’s role is to amend the relevant laws and train native court personnel.