Baby dumping is a complex issue

Recently news about baby dumping in Malaysia have been highlighted a disconcerting number of times.

This despicable act is rapidly escalating in our society especially among youths and teenagers.

According to police reports, between 2005 and 2009, about 407 cases of abandoned babies were recorded in the country during this period.

Earlier this month there were several cases involving teenagers dumping their babies leading to the cruel and unnecessary deaths of new born babies. One of the most tragic and heart wrenching incident took place in Selayang recently.

It was reported that a baby was thrown from the second floor of a flat. The culprit has been apprehended and investigation is still ongoing.

As we know, poor parental guidance and the lack of moral and religious upbringing are one of the the main causes of this social crisis in our society along side poor exposure to issues pertaining sexual education and reproductive health.

The issue of baby dumping need serious consideration because it involves the lives of innocent babies. Most of the babies found were in garbage dumps, drains, in abandoned shacks and sometimes they were found abandoned at places of worship.

Perhaps the reluctant parent thinks that by disposing the child, they could forget that they decided not to keep the babies.

There are also sad cases where the abandoned babies were found dead with their umbilical cord intact and to make matters worse they were found dead, body covered with ants and mosquito bites.

Even when some of them survived the cruel neglect, they may suffer a bleak future growing up knowing that they were unwanted.

This baby dumping issue shows us how bad the society is at educating young people on various ways to protect themselves from having this situation occur in the first place.

In preserving the moral and religious values in our society, families play a vital part in keeping the foundation of this institution strong.

The younger generation of Malaysia will one day be leaders of the country and most of us will agreed that if we do not confront this baby dumping issues now, all the preparation for our youths to lead this country effectively, will one day diminish.

This social crisis needs to be taken seriously because we need to protect the future of our teenagers so that they will become effective and productive individuals who are not scarred for life by untoward experiences.