A Masterclass in Hypocrisy - Yes to Child Marriage But No to Social Media

 

OPINION | A Masterclass in Hypocrisy - Yes to Child Marriage But No to Social Media


11 Dec 2025 • 11:00 AM MYT



Fa Abdul
FA ABDUL is a former columnist of Malaysiakini & Free Malaysia Today (FMT)

Photo credit: FMT


Malaysia has announced a grand plan to “protect the children” - a nationwide move to ban anyone under 16 from having social media accounts. On paper, it sounds noble. In reality, it is the kind of policy that makes you rub your eyes and ask - are we genuinely protecting minors, or are we just pretending to?


Because let’s be honest: we are a country where underaged girls can legally marry and become someone’s wife, someone’s mother, and someone’s responsibility… but not someone with a Facebook login. An 11-year-old can sleep on the same bed as her 41-year-old husband, but she cannot post a selfie. The contradiction would be hilarious if it wasn’t so tragic.


We are told this ban is to shield teenagers from vulgarity, predators, and harmful online content. Fair enough - the Internet is a chaotic place. But online predators are not the only predators in this world. They don’t magically materialise in TikTok, Instagram and Facebook comment sections; they come from families, communities, workplaces, even religious spaces. If the government is going to preach protection, then protection must apply offline too - especially where the risks are far more immediate and far more permanent.


The uncomfortable truth is this: Malaysia has long allowed child marriage to slip through under the labels of “religion,” “tradition,” or “family matter.” Some defenders even argue that girls as young as 9 have sexual urges, and marriage is a “proper channel.” That argument alone should set off alarm bells - not because teenagers have hormones, but because adults think a child’s body is fair game for adult responsibility. If a 9-year-old is “too immature” to be on Instagram, how is she mature enough to consent to marriage, sex, pregnancy, and motherhood?


This is where the hypocrisy becomes impossible to ignore. The state is willing to police what children see, but not necessarily what adults do to them. We panic over teenagers posting vulgar words online, but stay eerily silent when they are married off to adults twice their age or more. TikTok is treated as a threat; child marriage is treated as a delicate issue that we must all tiptoe around because it is “sensitive.”


If Malaysia wants to take child protection seriously, the solution is more than blocking apps. It is enforcing a consistent minimum marriage age, strengthening sex education, supporting families in poverty, and prosecuting exploitation without fear or favour. Anything less is moral window dressing.


So let’s stop pretending. This ban isn’t about protecting children. It’s about controlling them while ignoring the dangers they face every day offline.


When a child can be legally married but cannot legally hold a social media account, what we are protecting is not the child. It’s the hypocrisy.