Malaysian children as young as 12 are getting married, and it’s legal
- More than 150,000 Malaysians between the ages of 15 and 19 were married, according to the most recent census. Many more are even younger
- Differences in the laws governing Muslims and indigenous people have allowed the practice to continue, but momentum for change is growing
Their village is a three-hour drive from the nearest secondary school, and seven hours from the nearest town.
Iris, the eldest of the girls, is 16. Mary and Sarah are 14. Each of them enjoyed school and look back on their time in education fondly. But it has been two years since any of them attended class. They stopped going when they got married.
Now they live in their husbands’ longhouses, a traditional form of elongated and narrow housing raised on stilts used by many native communities in Sarawak.
“We seldom do activities together now, because we live in different longhouses,” says Mary. “When we were in the same school, we always had activities together.”
“We miss the time when we were still single,” she adds, breaking into a playful grin, as Iris and Sarah giggle.
