DEAR prime minister,

My name is Tasha, and I am 10 years old. I live in Kg Pandan Dalam Kiri, Selangor, with my parents and elder sister. I am writing to you because I am very, very scared.

Today, I heard my parents talking about a 15-year-old girl who got married to a man who is more than 40 years old. Just two months ago, my parents were talking about an 11-year-old girl who got married to another man, also over 40.

Imagine that, prime minister sir – these young girls marrying men older than their own fathers! How could this happen?

I heard that one of the reasons why these girls, who are not much older than my sister and me, got married is because they are very poor.

Prime minister sir, my daddy just lost his job because he was in a serious accident, and cannot go to work any more. My mummy works part time because she has to look after my daddy, my sister and me.

I love my parents very much, but I’m scared that we are now poor, and that my parents will marry my sister and me off to these very old men.

Prime minister sir, I don’t think I am ready to get married. I still like to play with my dolls. My sister and I play at keeping house, but I don’t think we can really do it like mummy does in the real world. Although I don’t really like going to school (I prefer staying at home and playing with my toys), my parents say I must go to school and study hard, so that when I am older, I can be clever and help many people. They say I can even be like you – the prime minister!

I sometimes watch you on TV. I’m not sure what you are saying, but I think you have a very kind and handsome face. And my daddy likes you very much. He says you are a good man and a very good prime minister because you are hardworking and do many things for the citizens of the country, to make us strong and excellent.

I think you also do good things for the little citizens of the country – like me!

I think I’d like that very much! To study hard and become prime minister just like you. But, I wouldn’t be able to if my parents marry me off while I’m still a child.

I am writing to you because my big cousin, my kakak, who is studying at UiTM, told my sister and me that in your election manifesto, you said you do not want to allow children to get married. I like my kakak. She is very kind and clever.

I am so confused because of these stories, saying children are still getting married even after you won the elections. I am even more scared because when my mummy and daddy were talking, they said the minister in charge of women and children had said it was okay for children get married, if the children agreed to it. I think the word my mummy used was “consent”?

I thought this minister was supposed to protect all of us children. Why can’t the minister do something to protect me, and other children like me? Can you do something, please? Can you protect us?

Please help us! Please help me. So that no one marries me off.

But prime minister sir, is this correct? Can children like me agree to get married?

Last year, my kakak told my sister and me to be careful because there are big, bad men and women out there who make friends with children like me, and sometimes, our parents, too.

They say nice things to us, and give us sweets and other things we may like. They give our parents food and money. And once we become their friend, they make us do bad, bad things.

She used a funny word – she said these big, bad people “groom” little children. I remember the word because my sister told her she thought “groom” was when we dressed up and combed our hair.

But, my kakak said it was the same word, and that we must be careful. She told us the story of a man who came to Malaysia and did bad things to many children, and even wanted to marry one of them when she turned 16, so that police could not arrest him and send him to jail, even when he was doing these bad things to her and to so many other children.

Does this mean that police cannot protect me when people do bad things to me? Why?

My mummy always tells me not to be naughty as otherwise, the policeman will catch me and put me in jail. Why does he want to catch me and not the bad people who do bad things to children?

Prime minister sir, I don’t want this to happen to my sister and me. I don’t want us to be married. We are too little. Please look after us because the other minister does not seem to be able to.

And if my parents are poor, they can’t help me? Does this just happen to poor people and poor children only?

Love,

Tasha – September 21, 2018.

* This letter from Tasha to the prime minister was provided by Voice of the Children.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.