In late October, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad issued a directive to state officials: raise the minimum age for marriage to eighteen years old. The move came after a huge public outcry earlier this year after a 41-year-old Malay man married an 11-year-old Thai girl named Ayu. The man, Che Abdul Karim Che Abdul Hamid, was a successful rubber trader. Ayu, who became his third wife, was the daughter of an employee who worked for a family business. The case has highlighted the issue of