Selangor raises minimum age for marriage from 16 to 18

SHAH ALAM: The legal age of marriage for Muslims in Selangor has now been been raised from 16 to 18 after the Selangor Sultan recently expressed his desire to raise the minimum age of marriage.
Amendments to the Islamic Family Law (State of Selangor) Enactment 2003 and subsequently, the Syariah Court Civil Procedure (State of Selangor) Enactment 2003 was made at the state assembly sitting here yesterday.
However, couples under 18 years can still apply to get married but they must now follow a series of strict guidelines.
The amendments were passed at the assembly by speaker Ng Suee Lim after gaining full support from all the 54 assemblymen in attendance.
This amendment was tabled by Selangor Mentri Besar Amirudin Shari yesterday.
He said previously, Syariah courts made their decisions solely on the judge's discretion.
He added that the new ammendment will see couples facing a set of guidelines that must be followed before it can be approved.
The new guidelines state that an affidavit of support must be signed by both parents together with an application from the parents or guardians of those under 18.
They must also provide an affidavit stating that both parties are in the right mental and physical capacity to get married, and have no criminal records against them.
"The court will then issue an order to obtain relevant health, socio-economic and criminal records to validate their affidavit."
"The courts have to ensure that the wellbeing of those under 18 will be of utmost priority so that the marriage doesn't have any complications whatsoever," he said.
He hoped that other states will now follow in Selangor's footsteps and change their laws.
During the tabling, Amirudin revealed that between 2013 and 2018, a total of 429 applications for underage marriage were made in the state, with 355 getting the approval from the state Syariah Court.
He also said that a total of 6,268 similar applications were made nationwide between 2010 and 2015.
Meanwhile, he said a total of 2,775 applications were made by non-Muslims in the same period.