Recently, The ASEAN Post wrote two articles on child marriages with a special focus on Indonesia and Thailand.For the story on Thailand, named “Regulation seeks to end child marriages, but…” statistics gathered by the United Nation Children’s Fund (UNICEF) were cited. However, data for Brunei, Malaysia and Singapore were unavailable.

Local Thai media reported last week on the Central Islamic Council of Thailand’s (CICOT) decision to pass a new regulation banning children under the age of 17 from marriage. This is the first time the council issued a ban on child marriage nationwide.

The region’s most populous country, Indonesia, could be close to ending child marriages soon. On Thursday, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the 16 years old minimum age requirement for women to marry is unconstitutional and that the government needs to change the minimum age for brides. The petition to the high court was filed by three child bride survivors with the backing of a coalition of campaigners and organisations against child marriage.

Amidst recent calls to increase the marriageable age from 16 to 18, the government in Malaysia has expressed its plans to amend two laws. The announcement followed the march to Parliament involving activists, primary and secondary school students and member of the public to hand over of petition for the same objective.

She is Thai, he is a Malaysian. She is 11, he is 41. She used to play with one of his children from another marriage. He has two other wives. He was her Quran teacher. She says she loves him and doesn’t want a divorce. He says their marriage is not driven by lust because he knew he would make her his wife years ago – when she was just seven. They say they have been ‘in love’ for three years. He says they will not consummate their marriage until she turns 16.