Following the recent controversial marriage of an 11-year-old Thai girl to a 41-year-old Malaysian man, the Central Islamic Council of Thailand (CICT) has put in place a new measure requiring any marriage involving a girl younger than 17 to be considered and approved by a provincial Islamic committee only.
The Islamic committee is then required to judge whether the proposed marriage conforms with Islamic principles or not, said Wisut Billateh of the CICT at a seminar in Bangkok on Tuesday organised by women's rights groups led by the Foundation for Women.
Mr Wisut said in the case involving the Malaysian man and Thai girl, he said, their wedding in Thailand was approved by an imam, not the Narathiwat provincial Islamic committee.
Although Islam doesn't specify the exact minimum age for marriage for the sake of flexibility in different social contexts, one key principle about marriage is the bride's consent, he said.
And despite suggestions by some thinkers in the Islamic world that the father or guardian can give his daughter to anyone he wants, this form of marriage should only be allowed in the best interest of the daughter, said Mr Wisut.
The seminar was also told this case went against both Malaysian law and Islamic principles.
The marriage was illegitimate under Malaysian law, because a bride must be at least 16 years of age and because the groom already had two registered wives, said Sappasit Khumprapan, a former member of the United Nations' child rights committee.
He needed to win the approval of the second wife before he could legally marry a third one, Mr Sappasit added.
According to media reports, the second wife did not consent to the marriage, and coupled with the age of bride, this makes the marriage illegitimate, said Mr Sappasit.
Although the groom has already been fined by a Malaysian court, he would likely survive any charges of child molestation that might arise against him because their marriage was recognised under Kelantan law and had the consent of the girl's parents, Mr Sappasit said.
National Human Rights Commissioner Angkhana Neelaphaijit, who is a Muslim, said it was important to investigate this case further to see if the marriage was a hidden form of child exploitation or human trafficking.
