The Malaysian Insight

THE number of sexually active children is cause for concern, said Deputy Women, Community and Family Development Minister Hannah Yeoh today.

She said according to Health Ministry estimates, there were between 70,000 and 90,000 cases of teenage pregnancy within six years.

Nationwide, 7.3% of teenagers are sexually active, she said.

Yeoh said 9.3% of remove-class students, aged 13, are sexually active, with the figure being the highest among secondary school students.

She said 6.9% of Form Two students are sexually active, Form Three (6.1%), Form Four (7.3%) and Form Five (6.9%).

“People ask, why do we have so many cases of child marriage? Of course there are cases when children are already sexually active at 13,” said the deputy minister, adding that many “resort” to marriage after falling pregnant.

The ministry is working on increasing the minimum marriageable age for girls from 16 to 18.

In July, Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who also holds the women, community and family development portfolio, told the Dewan Rakyat that shariah courts nationwide registered 5,362 Muslim child marriages from 2013 to last year.

As for non-Muslims, there were 968 marriages between children and adults, and 147 between children registered nationwide last year.

“The numbers (child marriages and teen pregnancies) are not going to decrease without the right intervention,” said Yeoh when closing the Penang Goes Orange campaign in George Town today.

She advised parents not to leave their children alone during the school holidays.

“Don’t give them a gadget and think they will be fine. If you don’t educate them, they will ‘educate’ themselves online.

“That’s where the danger is, and I have not even gotten to talking about the dangers of the dark web, where there are teens doing things like stripping.” – December 10, 2018.