KOTA KINABALU: Underage marriages are not encouraged, even in rural areas like Pitas.A native chief for the Timaragang Community, Ampun Woros, when saying this explained that there are rules which needs to be obliged before boys or girls below the ages of 18 are united as man and wife.
“For young couples under the age of 18, they must get the consent from their parents before their marriages are registered by the Native Court.
“Without the signed letter of consent from their fathers and mothers, these marriages will not be registered,” he said.
Unable to disclose the number of underage marriage cases recorded by the Court, he however disclosed that it was nothing new.
“We have dealt with such cases in the past and mostly these young people would drop out of school and marry their partners … but this has existed since time immemorial.”
The Pitas Welfare Department’s assistant community development officer, Nuraisyah Omar, said that last year, only one couple involving an underage girl was brought to their attention.
“The case was recorded in September last year involving a 16-year-old girl. We called her for counseling but she insisted to drop out of school to get married,” she said. Nuraisyah said they have been carrying out programmes in rural villages to create awareness among young people on marriages, especially that involving underage boys or girls.
“The Village Development and Security Committee members are also working with us. They will help monitor the situation in their respective areas on such cases and bring them to our attention,” she said.
She however, said that in a study carried out by them, they discovered that the number of young people getting hitched at an early age had decreased.
“In fact, these young people would drop out of school with the intention to migrate to the city to work and support their families,” she said. Kota Kinabalu district chief, William Majimbun, meanwhile said marriages involving underage people was not common in the city.
“Maybe because they are more exposed to information, thanks to the many awareness programmes carried out by the government and non-governmental organisations,” said Majimbun, who is also the Native Court chief judge.
He said it was important to get the message across, adding that government programmes such as Juara Rakyat would be the best avenue to do so.