The Issue

1.1 Introduction

Child abandonment or baby dumping is the act of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring with the intent of never again resuming or reasserting them for an extended period of time, a child younger than 12 months of age in a public or private setting with the intent to dispose of the child. An abandoned child is called a foundling (as opposed to a runaway or an orphan). According to reliable statistics, at least one baby is abandoned weekly which causes include many social and cultural factors as well as mental illness.

Statistics showed that from 2005 until current, there were 472 babies abandoned by their irresponsible parents of which, 258 were dead and 214 are still alive. One major factor to baby dumping cases is the increasing number of babies conceived out of wedlock, which Hospital Kuala Lumpur has recorded 301 cases of such births this year of which, 34 babies were delivered by under-18 mothers. 

472 cases of baby dumping and what the public doesn’t know are that abortions can reach up to 300 cases a day. These are real issues related to baby dumping that the public are not aware. There were almost equal numbers of male and female infants involved, leaving them either dead or homeless.

Police say a majority of baby-dumping cases involve Malays, which observers say is the result of the stigma of illegitimate children and the community being ill equipped to deal with unwanted pregnancies. While there is no actual racial breakdown available because it is often difficult to determine the race of the babies, police say anecdotal evidence and prosecutions show the majority involves Malays. According to the policemen, 13 out of 65 cases in 2010 involving the dumping of newborns have resulted in prosecutions. All of the accused were Malays.

A total of 67 cases were recorded in 2005, 83 cases in 2006, 76 in 2007, 102 in 2008 and 79 in 2009 and increasingly happening in until the current.

Statistics

Statistics shows that Selangor has recorded the highest number of baby dumping cases which is 122 cases from the year 2005 to 2010. Whereas Johor 83 cases, Sabah 65, Sarawak 34, Negeri Sembilan 24, Pulau Pinang 22, Perak 19, Pahang and Kedah 17, Kelantan 10, Terengganu 5, Melaka 3, Kuala Lumpur 2 and Perlis 1. Total up from all these states, there are 407 cases of baby dumping from the year of 2005 to 2010.

From 2005 to January this year (2011), a total of 517 baby dumping cases were registered in the country. 203 of the cases involved boys, 164 girls while the gender of the other 150 babies could not be ascertained. For cases in which the gender cannot be identified, post-mortems could not be carried out because the bodies were too badly decomposed. Of the total, 230 were found alive while 287 were dead.