KUALA LUMPUR: Reach out to distressed pregnant women instead of using capital punishment against those who dump unwanted babies, said MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.
“If we do not help them and resort to punishing them, then we are treating women who abandoned their babies as criminals,” he said.
Dr Chua said if capital punishment is introduced, it could force women to commit other drastic crimes such as burying the babies alive to conceal their wrongdoings.
“If society does not reach out to the pregnant women, they would have no choice but to hide, abandon or bury their babies alive,” he said after chairing the MCA central committee meeting at Wisma MCA yesterday.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil said on Thursday the Cabinet had agreed to her ministry’s proposal that anyone whose baby died after being dumped could be tried for murder and sentenced to death.
Concern: Shahrizat taking a closer look at four-day-old Liya Marissa Mohd Huzaiba at the maternity ward of Kuala Lumpur Hospital Friday. Dr Chua said a baby hatch for mothers to leave their newborn for adoption would be a better alternative.
“You need a centre to provide counselling. It can also be a channel for people to adopt abandoned babies,” he said.
Meanwhile, Shahrizat said three more cases of babies being abandoned were reported, one each in Kelantan, Malacca and Kuala Lumpur, besides the 60 cases reported to the ministry so far.
She said the authorities must view baby dumping seriously because it was becoming rampant.
“Do not take such cases lightly,” she said after visiting the maternity ward of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital yesterday.
She added that parents should not blame others if their daughters became pregnant but instead support them in times of distress.
She urged those with problems, especially youngsters who conceive out of wedlock, to contact the Nur 1599 hotline for assistance and counselling.
At another function, the prime minister’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor said local universities should conduct comprehensive studies on rampant baby dumping in the country to check the problem.
“If we know why this problem happens, then we’ll be in a better position to take appropriate measures to overcome it,” she said.
Speaking to reporters after talking over the phone with 1Malaysia Putra Club chairman Datuk Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim on the humanitarian aid mission to Gaza, Rosmah said parents should also spend more time with their children and be aware of their development and movements.
