According to the New Straits Times, the solemnisation of vows took place in Tumpat in July, after the Shariah Court gave the go-ahead for the union.

The girl’s parents, who have 12 other children, said they gave permission for her marriage to the 44-year-old man as they wanted her to have a better life.

The couple run a sundry shop and earn between RM200 and RM300 a month.

“No parent wants to see his or her child live in hardship. We do not want our daughter to live in difficulty as we did, raising 13 children,” they were quoted as saying.

“Her siblings are all married and now have their own lives. We know that she is underage, but we only want the best for her.”

This comes three months after news that a 41-year-old man in Gua Musang had taken an 11-year-old girl as his third wife.

Rubber tapper Abdul Karim Che Abdul Hamid said he had received the blessings of the girls’ parents and would formalise the marriage by applying for a marriage certificate when his “wife” turned 16, the marital age allowed by Malaysian shariah laws.

Until then, he said, the girl would live with her parents.

The marriage caused an uproar, with Selangor ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah issuing a decree earlier this month that the marriageable age for Muslim males and females in the state be raised from 16 to 18 years.

Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail also said in July that the government would amend the laws to raise the marriageable age for girls from 16 to 18.

The 11-year-old girl was eventually sent back to her birth country of Thailand where she is said to be undergoing mental health counselling due to the intense level of attention sparked by her marriage.

Meanwhile, the 15-year-old girl in Tumpat told the New Straits Times that she was happy to be married.

The girl, who is the man’s second wife, said she did not mind what people said about her.

“The most important thing is that I’m happy with my husband, and I will try to make him happy for the rest of my life,” she was quoted as saying.