'Girls Not Brides' & 'Pro Life Cycle' - by Visithra Manikam (Malaysia)
The artist Visithra Manikam has provided these notes on the politics, culture and moral and practical implications of two big issues in Malaysia : Child brides and the lack of abortion rights for women. These occur in many other parts of the world, with different variations.
GIRLS NOT BRIDES
Visithra : “This painting is about the common practice of parents marrying off their children, especially young girls, to older men.
There were 9,061 child marriages recorded in Malaysia between 2010 to 2015. How is it even possible when there are laws which are supposed to protect children in this country ? Out of that number 6,286 were Muslim youths - below 18 for males and 16 for females. While 2,775 were non-muslims.
Although the legal age of marriage for non-Muslims is 18, those below 16 can still be married with the approval of the chief ministers or under customary laws (native courts) of Sabah and Sarawak. And these are just the registered numbers.
Many marriages go unregistered especially in the Indian community where parents may not even get their children’s birth registered, leaving them to become stateless children. The worst part of all this is, that there are people who support child marriages.? If a child is ‘wild’ – it’s the parent’s fault for not instilling values and disciplining them - you get them disciplined not married off.
Marriage doesn’t solve the issue – the issue is bad parents looking for an escape route. If your child is raped – you should not marry them off to the rapist, you should seek justice and stand by your child. Stop saying it’s an embarrassment or that you need to save face – if your child was violated she will not be happy with a rapist ! A child’s body is not ready for sexual relations. Only once they turn 18-years-old will they be physically ready, which is why this was set as a legal age for marriage. It was also to stop the common practice of marrying off female children to keep the family wealth in the family and to ensure they don’t lose face in case the girl falls in love.
My paternal grandmother was a child bride. She was married off to someone 15 years older than her at 8 years old - to keep the wealth within the family. She had her first child at 10 and she eventually had 11 children. When her husband (my grandfather) had a fallout with his father, he took his young wife to Malaya. And she, whilst still a child herself ended up bringing up children without any family support. I don't know what she went through, I was 5 when she died. But I have spent a lifetime being grateful I was born in Malaysia and not part of a culture that marries children off to keep wealth in the family.
A recent case in Malaysia saw a Muslim man travel to Thailand to marry a 11-year-old girl with the consent of her parents. So, here we are now watching an 11 year old who was groomed since 7 to think it is love - from a paedophile. This child is now under welfare protection but religious laws allow children to be married with the permission of the state and family. The worst part of all this, is seeing portions of the community agreeing and justifying the marriage for various reasons.
Children need to be educated to understand that they need to equip themselves with the right education so they can stand on their own feet and support themselves before even thinking of marriage. Marriage should not be the only goal in a child’s life and parents and our education system need to instil this in them so they do not become victims to paedophiles, disguised in the form of legal marriages. Children need to be protected, children need to be children and not playthings for paedophile men. Recently, Thailand has banned child marriages but Malaysia is yet to show progress in safeguarding these children.”
PRO LIFE CYCLE
Visithra : ”A baby was thrown out of a window just a few months back in a town in Malaysia. Everyone wants to know how heartless can the mother be. The Minister of Women, Family and Community Development was quoted in January 2016 as saying that out of the 104 babies dumped in 2015, sixty one were dead and only forty three alive. In 2014, 75 were found dead and only twenty eight alive, while in 2013, fifty eight were found dead and only thirty two alive.
But has anyone asked the most important question? How did the mother get to that point ? Where were the pro-lifers who force women to bear children they don’t want or can’t afford ? Where are the people who label these children ‘anak haram’ (illegitimate child) yet shun their termination ? Our laws and the society in general are pro-life, where they are against the termination of a fetus. These people protest and do not allow women to abort an unwanted pregnancy as they equate it with murder. Women who try to have an abortion are labelled : ‘baby killer’, ‘slut’, ‘sinner’, ‘murderer’, ‘shameless’ and more.
In Malaysia, a Fatwa issued by the National Fatwa Council forbids Muslim children conceived out of wedlock from carrying their father’s name. This includes children born out of wedlock or within six months of their parents marriage. If the mother is not Malaysian, the kid becomes stateless and Malaysian Law states in respect of an illegitimate child that, as long as the father identified by the mother agrees to it, the father’s name will be used to register the child.
Now before you blame one religion, do take note that all religions in Malaysia are against abortion and all look down on children born out of wedlock. Between 2005 and 2015, more than half a million children in Malaysia were born out of wedlock.
According to Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia (RRAAM), many don’t realise that Abortion is legally allowed in Malaysia under the exception of Section 312 of the Penal Code so long as it is performed by a doctor registered under the Medical Act 1971. However, an abortion can only be done if there is :
1. Risk of life or injury to the physical health of the woman
2. Risk of life or injury to the mental health of the woman.
So, basically the choice is never the woman’s but is determined by a doctor. And it’s not so clear-cut either, which is why it is done in hush-hush and can cost exorbitant prices. In October 2014, authorities raided a health clinic in Bukit Mertajam, Penang and arrested Nirmala Bhatt (a Nepali woman) for obtaining an abortion, a law that has not been practised for 25 years. The doctor who performed the procedure was also arrested. The woman, a security guard was convicted but an appeal before the high court was overturned. However she was charged again, but the sessions court acquitted her as the prosecution failed to prove the case against her. Nirmala was convicted and sentenced to a year's imprisonment.
In another case, a 17-year-old muslim rape victim found out she was pregnant and despite her being physiologically unfit to have the child, the Malaysian Fatwa Committee on rape said that :
1. It is prohibited to terminate pregnancy after more than 120 days as it is considered to be a crime against the unborn baby as the soul has already entered the foetus, except abortion to save the mother's life.
2. Aborting a foetus before 120 days is permissible if the foetus is defective and terminally ill or that it could seriously harm the mother.
(The fatwa is literally silent on psychological indications.) And because the child was born out of wedlock, these young mothers can be fined by the Syariah courts. So society won’t let the woman abort an unwanted pregnancy and then penalises her for it. But then : After giving birth to an illegitimate child, society shuns the mother and child and labels the mother as ‘slut’, ‘irresponsible’, ‘sinner’, ‘shameless’, ‘bad mother’, and more.
If they have had very little education, these now single mothers end up struggling to financially support these kids. Then society once again labels them as ‘bad mothers’ and asks the most ironic questions – “Why did you have kids if you can’t afford them?” Regardless of whether they keep the child or not, the women end up being called names and are shunned by society which shames them into making choices it forced on them.
The men who fathered these children often go unpunished and un-labelled. Its a never-ending cycle for women who (in the name of laws, religion and other people’s views) are not given the chance to choose what’s right for them.”
GIRLS NOT BRIDES
Visithra : “This painting is about the common practice of parents marrying off their children, especially young girls, to older men.
There were 9,061 child marriages recorded in Malaysia between 2010 to 2015. How is it even possible when there are laws which are supposed to protect children in this country ? Out of that number 6,286 were Muslim youths - below 18 for males and 16 for females. While 2,775 were non-muslims.
Although the legal age of marriage for non-Muslims is 18, those below 16 can still be married with the approval of the chief ministers or under customary laws (native courts) of Sabah and Sarawak. And these are just the registered numbers.
Many marriages go unregistered especially in the Indian community where parents may not even get their children’s birth registered, leaving them to become stateless children. The worst part of all this is, that there are people who support child marriages.? If a child is ‘wild’ – it’s the parent’s fault for not instilling values and disciplining them - you get them disciplined not married off.
Marriage doesn’t solve the issue – the issue is bad parents looking for an escape route. If your child is raped – you should not marry them off to the rapist, you should seek justice and stand by your child. Stop saying it’s an embarrassment or that you need to save face – if your child was violated she will not be happy with a rapist ! A child’s body is not ready for sexual relations. Only once they turn 18-years-old will they be physically ready, which is why this was set as a legal age for marriage. It was also to stop the common practice of marrying off female children to keep the family wealth in the family and to ensure they don’t lose face in case the girl falls in love.
My paternal grandmother was a child bride. She was married off to someone 15 years older than her at 8 years old - to keep the wealth within the family. She had her first child at 10 and she eventually had 11 children. When her husband (my grandfather) had a fallout with his father, he took his young wife to Malaya. And she, whilst still a child herself ended up bringing up children without any family support. I don't know what she went through, I was 5 when she died. But I have spent a lifetime being grateful I was born in Malaysia and not part of a culture that marries children off to keep wealth in the family.
A recent case in Malaysia saw a Muslim man travel to Thailand to marry a 11-year-old girl with the consent of her parents. So, here we are now watching an 11 year old who was groomed since 7 to think it is love - from a paedophile. This child is now under welfare protection but religious laws allow children to be married with the permission of the state and family. The worst part of all this, is seeing portions of the community agreeing and justifying the marriage for various reasons.
Children need to be educated to understand that they need to equip themselves with the right education so they can stand on their own feet and support themselves before even thinking of marriage. Marriage should not be the only goal in a child’s life and parents and our education system need to instil this in them so they do not become victims to paedophiles, disguised in the form of legal marriages. Children need to be protected, children need to be children and not playthings for paedophile men. Recently, Thailand has banned child marriages but Malaysia is yet to show progress in safeguarding these children.”
PRO LIFE CYCLE
Visithra : ”A baby was thrown out of a window just a few months back in a town in Malaysia. Everyone wants to know how heartless can the mother be. The Minister of Women, Family and Community Development was quoted in January 2016 as saying that out of the 104 babies dumped in 2015, sixty one were dead and only forty three alive. In 2014, 75 were found dead and only twenty eight alive, while in 2013, fifty eight were found dead and only thirty two alive.
But has anyone asked the most important question? How did the mother get to that point ? Where were the pro-lifers who force women to bear children they don’t want or can’t afford ? Where are the people who label these children ‘anak haram’ (illegitimate child) yet shun their termination ? Our laws and the society in general are pro-life, where they are against the termination of a fetus. These people protest and do not allow women to abort an unwanted pregnancy as they equate it with murder. Women who try to have an abortion are labelled : ‘baby killer’, ‘slut’, ‘sinner’, ‘murderer’, ‘shameless’ and more.
In Malaysia, a Fatwa issued by the National Fatwa Council forbids Muslim children conceived out of wedlock from carrying their father’s name. This includes children born out of wedlock or within six months of their parents marriage. If the mother is not Malaysian, the kid becomes stateless and Malaysian Law states in respect of an illegitimate child that, as long as the father identified by the mother agrees to it, the father’s name will be used to register the child.
Now before you blame one religion, do take note that all religions in Malaysia are against abortion and all look down on children born out of wedlock. Between 2005 and 2015, more than half a million children in Malaysia were born out of wedlock.
According to Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia (RRAAM), many don’t realise that Abortion is legally allowed in Malaysia under the exception of Section 312 of the Penal Code so long as it is performed by a doctor registered under the Medical Act 1971. However, an abortion can only be done if there is :
1. Risk of life or injury to the physical health of the woman
2. Risk of life or injury to the mental health of the woman.
So, basically the choice is never the woman’s but is determined by a doctor. And it’s not so clear-cut either, which is why it is done in hush-hush and can cost exorbitant prices. In October 2014, authorities raided a health clinic in Bukit Mertajam, Penang and arrested Nirmala Bhatt (a Nepali woman) for obtaining an abortion, a law that has not been practised for 25 years. The doctor who performed the procedure was also arrested. The woman, a security guard was convicted but an appeal before the high court was overturned. However she was charged again, but the sessions court acquitted her as the prosecution failed to prove the case against her. Nirmala was convicted and sentenced to a year's imprisonment.
In another case, a 17-year-old muslim rape victim found out she was pregnant and despite her being physiologically unfit to have the child, the Malaysian Fatwa Committee on rape said that :
1. It is prohibited to terminate pregnancy after more than 120 days as it is considered to be a crime against the unborn baby as the soul has already entered the foetus, except abortion to save the mother's life.
2. Aborting a foetus before 120 days is permissible if the foetus is defective and terminally ill or that it could seriously harm the mother.
(The fatwa is literally silent on psychological indications.) And because the child was born out of wedlock, these young mothers can be fined by the Syariah courts. So society won’t let the woman abort an unwanted pregnancy and then penalises her for it. But then : After giving birth to an illegitimate child, society shuns the mother and child and labels the mother as ‘slut’, ‘irresponsible’, ‘sinner’, ‘shameless’, ‘bad mother’, and more.
If they have had very little education, these now single mothers end up struggling to financially support these kids. Then society once again labels them as ‘bad mothers’ and asks the most ironic questions – “Why did you have kids if you can’t afford them?” Regardless of whether they keep the child or not, the women end up being called names and are shunned by society which shames them into making choices it forced on them.
The men who fathered these children often go unpunished and un-labelled. Its a never-ending cycle for women who (in the name of laws, religion and other people’s views) are not given the chance to choose what’s right for them.”
