KUCHING: A jobless man was yesterday arrested by the police for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl.
The 20-year-old man was picked up at a house in Kenyalang Park by the police after they received a report on the incident at around 12.00noon.
Prior to lodging the report, a complainant had brought her daughter to the Tanah Puteh Clinic for medical checkup after the latter complained of abdominal pain last Sunday.
After undergoing the checkup, the complainant was told by a medical officer that her daughter was several months pregnant.
The suspect, who was taken to One Stop Centre at Jalan Simpang Tiga for questioning, told police that he would marry the victim.
Meanwhile, early this month, Tasek Gelugor MP, Datuk Shabudin Yahaya caused an uproar after he was reported to have said in Parliament that there was nothing wrong with a rape victim marrying the rapist when he was debating the Sexual Offences Against Children Bill 2017 after several opposition lawmakers suggested amending it to include child marriages as an offence.
The former Syariah court judge was also reported saying that some girls who reached puberty when they were as young as nine years old were “physically and spiritually” ready for marriage.
Following the debate, leaders from both sides of the political divide in Sarawak had slammed Shahbudin for his outrageous statement on rape victims and child marriage.
Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing, Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said such statement should not have come from a Member of Parliament. She said the issue was statutory rape and marrying a rape victim should not nullify the offence.
She also said such mindset would only aggravate and would not help in reducing statutory rape and child marriages in the country.
Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Central Women Chairperson, Datin Jennifer William said Shahbudin’s statement was against the government’s prerogative in protecting rights of women and children in the country.
She also said the Tasek Gelugor MP should have a firm grasp on child marriages concept and context before issuing such provocative and offensive statement.
Parti Keadilan Rakyat Women’s national vice-president, Voon Shiak Ni who was disgusted with Shahbudin’s arguments said the Umno MP was unfit to be the people’s representative and he was an embarrassment to the Malaysian Parliament.
She added that rape is one of the most heinous crimes and therefore a rapist should be punished.
Last Saturday (8 April) Shahbudin issued a statement denying that he had suggested that the rapists be forced to marry the victims and the crime of rape is automatically dropped after such marriage, during a parliamentary debate recently.
He said in the debate, he stressed that all rape, whether consensual statutory rape or otherwise is a crime and the reports, both the local and international media, had given the perception that he had condoned that rapists be allowed to marry underage victims to avoid punishment.
He explained, during the debate one Member of Parliament had proposed an amendment to the bill that would ban underage child marriages while he had given an opinion that under certain circumstances, the current flexibility should remain.
He said, generally, the legal age for marriage in Malaysia is 21 years old without parents’ consent and 18 years with their parent’s consent while the legal age of consent is 16 years old.
However, in certain cases, he said those below the legal age can marry if given a special marriage licence from the head of their particular state government or approved by a judge in a lawful court.
Shahbudin stressed that as a former judge and based on experience of past cases, the flexibility and the discretion of the judges must be maintained to allow the courts to rule on cases of statutory rape involving consenting partners who are in a relationship and be treated differently from non-consensual rape, as opposed to an outright ban on underage marriages as proposed by the other Members of Parliament.
