A Malaysian MP has come under fire for airing his views on rape, and especially his suggestion that female victims could marry their rapists.
He made his arguments during a debate in the Malaysian House of Representatives on a proposal by a female MP to amend the country’s Sexual Offenses Against Children bill to include a ban on child marriages.
Outrage over his words made waves on local and social media, as many expressed their shock and disgust over MP Datuk Shabudin Yahaya’s claim that female rape victims could lead better futures if they married the men who raped them.
The former Sharia court judge attempted to justify statutory rape, stating that some teenage girls looked a lot older than their actual ages.
“When we discuss 12 and 15-year-olds, we don’t see their physical bodies because some children aged 12 or 15 have bodies like 18-year-old women,” Shabudin said.
He added that some girls who were as young as nine were both “physically and spiritually” ready for marriage.
“It’s not impossible for them to get married,” he said. “They reach puberty at the age of nine or 12. And at that time, their body is already akin to them being 18 years old. So physically and spiritually, it is not a barrier for the girl to marry.”
“Perhaps through marriage they can lead a better life,” he added. “And the person who was raped need not necessarily have a bleak future. She will have a husband, at least, and this could serve as a remedy to growing social problems.”
Shabudin was swiftly denounced on social media by the public. Critics pointed out that his words could be taken as encouragement for would-be rapists to escape the law by marrying their young victims.
The Malaysian Prime Minister’s brother Datuk Seri Nazir Razak was one of many Malaysians to express his outrage at Shabudin’s statements. “No, it is not [okay],” he wrote on Instagram. “And no, they can’t [marry the victims]!”
Shabudin later claimed that his statements were taken out of context, and did not intend to mean that marriage was a “backdoor exit to legalize rape” and reiterated that “rape is still a criminal offense.” However, he rejected the motion to ban child marriages because the amendment was contrary to Sharia law.
Malaysia passed the law on sexual offenses against children without criminalizing child marriage, as the amendment was voted down by the majority of parliament.
The Sisters in Islam organization released a statement calling Shabudin’s views “deplorable,” stating that he downplayed the severity of rape. They added that conflating marriage and statutory rape was a mockery of Islam.
“Allowing the perpetrator to marry his victim allows him to escape prosecution and severely undermines not just a law to protect children, but the Islamic principle of justice,” said SIS.