KUCHING, 10 SEPT – Budget 2025 needs to focus on empowering awareness campaigns to curb the issue of underage marriage in addition to ensuring that the welfare of people with disabilities (OKU) in the state continues to be given attention.
A counselor at the Sarawak Women’s Organization (SWWS), Dayang Nurhannyfah Abang Mohamad Adawi, said the issue of underage marriage in Sarawak needs to be addressed immediately following the record of the highest number of underage marriages of 1,638 individuals from 2017 to 2020.
“So this is worrying for the next generation… the government needs to increase the organization of awareness campaigns about underage marriage and social problems in schools because some of them are not sensitive to this issue.
“With the presence of social media, it results in them being influenced by western ideology to the point of engaging in free association and ignoring the parts of the body that can and cannot be touched by others,” he told Named.
Dayang Nurhannyfah hopes that the government through the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) will continue to work actively with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to combat issues related to women, including domestic abuse and sexual harassment at work.
The center manager of Wishesland, an NGO for cerebral palsy patients, Agnes Winnie said the government needs to provide special assistance for such disabled people to step into the world of work and live independently. – Named
