Aug 14, 2010 （ THE STRAITS TIME)

Baby dumping is murder

KL reclassifies fatal cases to tackle problem of baby dumping but NGOs oppose move

By Carolyn Hong, Malaysia Bureau Chief

KUALA LUMPUR - BABY dumping that causes the child's death will now be classified as murder, an offence which carries the death penalty in Malaysia.
The Malaysian Cabinet made the decision after the media highlighted a spate of newborns being thrown away, in some cases publishing photos of ants crawling over a dead baby and decomposed bodies.
The latest case was a dead baby girl found floating in a sewage tank behind a girls' college hostel in remote Kelantan two days ago. The decomposed body was found by a group of boys playing nearby.
Two more abandoned baby cases were reported that day in Malacca and Kuala Lumpur.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said in a statement on Wednesday that the Cabinet has directed the Home Ministry to classify baby dumping cases as murder or attempted murder if the child dies.
'The government has no choice as such acts were tantamount to baby killing,' she said. Official statistics show that there were 407 cases of abandoned babies from 2005 to last year, and 60 cases so far this year. Of the babies dumped this year, 25 were boys and 21 girls. Fourteen could not be identified due to decomposition, including one mauled by dogs.