B. Baby Dumping
2. Based on your readings, answer the following questions.
a. What do you understand from your readings regarding the issue?
“Baby dumping is the act of throwing away babies without take care the babies.” Baby dumping is the issue that catches the high attention of society. The incidents of baby abandonment are still rampant in Malaysia. The cases of baby dumpling climb every year and not once has it dropped. According to the report of Federal CID, there are 517 baby dumpling cases since 2005. People who dump baby and caused baby dies are classified as murderer and will be charge to the court to accept the legal sanction because of their inhuman acts under Section 318 of the Penal Code for hiding the births and try to throw a baby. If judge, they shall be liable to two years imprisonment or fine or both. Most of these criminal are teenagers.
Many of the abandoned babies were found in rubbish bin, on the street, on the doorstep or on the rivers with plastic bags wrapped. Sadly, major of the abandoned babies were died after discovered. This phenomenon indirectly reflects the moral devaluated in the society that they are contemptuous for life.
We cannot only point finger at the helpless mother who may be forced to abandon baby. She will not do such desperate act if her parents forgive her and her partner assumes the responsibility. It takes two people to produce a baby. But why we always blame the women who bear 9 months of pregnancy’s pain? Therefore, counselling should not only emphasize on the women yet for men also. Men should know their responsibility and to be an accountable father.
In Malaysia, premarital sex is not allowed for Muslim couples. They will be fined more than thousands of US dollars, jailed or caned if they found guilty in premarital sex. However, abandoned baby is worse behaviour and the punishment is heavier for them.
Implement punishment and harm for them is not an effective way to solve this problem, with suitable sex education, teach the young make good decisions and practice safe behaviour are needed. Sex education is not to promote sex behaviour to the teenagers, but it teaches the teenagers the safety way to have sex and how to make right choices. Besides that, government also has setting up a “Rumah Perhentian Sementara” for the abandoned babies and unwed pregnant women. Women, Family and Community Development Ministry are also trying to find out more effective solutions to resolve this.
b. Why do you think it occurs? Explain your answer.
The root cause of baby dumping rampant in Malaysia is lack of education. A study shows that many of the baby dumpers are failure to complete their secondary school. In school, moral values will be instilled in their minds that are applied on their action. This obviously reflects that education can lead them to the proper road, make correct decision and able to differentiate black and white. Sex education should be provided to the students to give them awareness about the effects of having premarital sex.
From the multimedia and internet, it is easy to get the resources of sex video and pornographic. Teenagers who always loiter to cyber café and addicted to online games and social networking, undoubtedly will touch those things because of their curiosity. With the encouragement of those sex videos, teenagers who are still young in mind will try and follow them. Because of their impulsiveness, pregnant comes without any alert and the baby will be abandoned without any consider.
Besides, family is also one of the causes that force them abandoned baby. Because the finance problem of the family is not capable to raise a child, they are forced to dump the baby away. Some of the family feel shamed because having a child out of wedlock especially in Malaysia which is a Muslim country that do not encourage premarital sex. With the support of family, they might have courage to face the difficulty with family.
Many of the unwed women feel helpless and unable to think when they are unexpected to pregnant. The pregnancy comes not on the right time. They think have a child will affect their studies or careers and it is a burden for them to raise a child. Some of the single mothers fear being stigmatised by the society. Muslims also fear to be punished because their actions are against their religion. They also fear rejection by family and fail in prepared to get a child, so they think abandoned baby is only the way to cover their faults.
Some parents throw away their child because they do not want an unhealthy child who may be become a burden for them. It is disappointed if the parents discover that their child suffer some untreatable diseases or birth defect after birth. Not only continental diseases, some of the parents who are HIV positive fear their baby will be infected. It is not everyone can accept an unhealthy child and able to afford these pressure. Without others choices, they choose to give up their baby by throwing away the baby.
c. Explain their impacts on
i. Society
It gives a lot of negative impacts on society. Baby dumping may become the copy of other people when they face same kind of the problems. This will become a chain that they replicate discard their babies without any feeling of sympathy. Then the phenomenon will become common on the society.
Besides, it can cause psychological effects on the mental and emotions especially depression and phobia. It may become an unforgettable experience for both parents and children. The wound is easy to recover, but the wound inside which we cannot see is difficult to cure. The child will feel self-abased and boycotted by society. It also damages society development and builds an immoral society. Life does not get the respect.
It will cause moral devaluated and sex abuse on society. People become more inhumanness and contemptuous for life. Furthermore, this will give a negative impression from the society those who rapidly see the news about the baby dumping. This may become a fear for them to have a child and marriage.
ii. Nation
It will give a big impact on the image of nation which does not have provided proper education for people. Besides, it will cause the rate of birth of the country decreases but increases the rate of death. The rate of marriage will follow to fall. Indirectly, the population in the country will decrease.
When the rate of baby dumping increases, the number of murderer increases, the nation needs to waste a lot of resources to solve those cases and arrest them. Government also need to come out a lot of solution to cope this problem. Money of the nation will spend a lot to built woman’s shelter or orphanage and implement those solutions. It will give bad views from foreigner to the nation and may indirectly affect the economy of the country. The nation will become chaos and decline the improvement.
As we know, teenagers are our hopes and our future leaders. If they practise such an inhuman act, what would happen to our nation? Our nation will under the control of a murderer and become immoral. The nation is going to be destroyed by them.
References
1) No author. 2011. 517 baby dumping cases since 2005. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/517-baby-dumping-cases-since-2005/. [Accessed 26 October 11].
2) AZRUL MOHD KHALIB. 2010. Baby dumping: Paying for our fault. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/18bayi1/Article/. [Accessed 26 October 01].
3) Jia Ning Tan. 2010. Baby dumping in Malaysia: causes and solutions (2). [ONLINE] Available at: http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/7139795.html. [Accessed 26 October 01].
4) Normila Noordin. 2010. Baby-dumping: The mothers need help, too. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.malaysiakini.com/letters/142339. [Accessed 27 October 01].
5) LOH FOON FONG. 2010. Shelter Home: Get to root problem of baby dumping. [ONLINE] Available at: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?sec=nation&file=/2010/6/1/nation/6373936. [Accessed 26 October 01].
