Malaysian authorities denounce child-free trend as unacceptable and dangerous

In response to the growing trend, Religious Affairs Minister Mohd Na’im Mokhtar spoke out against child-free lifestyles, calling them “not acceptable” for Malay Muslims, who make up nearly 70 per cent of the population.

“Marriage comes with responsibilities, with men becoming leaders and women becoming mothers,” Mohd Naim said at a Father’s Day celebration on June 29.

Soon after, the National Security Council (NSC) voiced its own criticism of the child-free trend. In a rare commentary posted on its website in early July, the council said that “the concept of child-free is capable of causing a demographic imbalance in society.”

“This will directly cause tension between different ethnic groups or social classes which will eventually lead to conflict and crisis in the country,” the NSC warned.

Racial balance has been a critical issue in Malaysia since its independence in 1957. The country’s experience with a bloody racial riot that took place in Kuala Lumpur in 1969 remains a pivotal event in the ongoing discourse about race relations.

In a reply to parliament on July 10, the Ministry of Women, Family, and Community Development (KPWKM) said that there has been a downward trend in marriage for all races in the country except among Bumiputra, the country’s indigenous ethnic group that includes Malays.

KPWKM head Nancy Shukri, for her part, defended the right for each couples to decide what is best for them in a reply to a question in parliament on July 2.

“The ministry believes that the decision to have children and determining the number of children is the right of the couple,” Nancy said, adding that declining birth rates are a global issue with a variety of contributing factors.

Lawmaker Sim Tze Tzin, who posed the question to the