IT was heartening news when Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail announced a campaign to address baby dumping.
From 2010 to May this year, there have been 1,010 recorded cases of baby dumping. Of those, 64 per cent of babies were found dead, and a majority of them died shortly after they were rescued.
The babies were dumped in homes, toilets and garbage areas. The last recorded case was when a cleaner found a newborn girl in a plastic bag while she was sorting out rubbish.
Her umbilical cord was attached to her belly button. There was no heartbeat.
It is hard to grasp this sick trend of humans filled with potential but discarded like trash. How did we become like this?
The campaign has provided ways to curb this issue, including “locality mapping” and “strategic intervention” in hotspots for baby dumping. Dr Wan Azizah has reached out to women with unplanned pregnancies to contact the “Talian Kasih” hotline under the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry and ordered that awareness posters be put up in male and female toilet cubicles in rest areas.
Although it is a start, it seems more like a band-aid measure, instead of getting to the root of the problem.
Problems like the shame felt by women who get pregnant out of wedlock, the taboo of pre-marital sex, contraception and the lack of sex education among youth are not addressed.
Firstly, there are legal amendments that must be implemented. Most baby dumpings are a result of unwanted teenage pregnancies. Research shows that 18,000 teenagers get pregnant in Malaysia each year.
They can be persecuted for various acts, including religious laws.
Abortion is heavily regulated and allowed only in life or death cases.
Most doctors, however, refuse to perform it on religious grounds. These women feel like they are lepers with nowhere to turn to for help.
Then there is the attitude towards health and sex education.
A survey showed that one in every three men believe sex education will lead to more sexual activity. This is a microcosm of the larger problem.
Without education, our youth are vulnerable. They do not have the knowledge, nor the legal ability to obtain contraception, and they feel ostracised by their community who would rather ignore their situation.
Lastly, the stigma and discrimination of teenage and unmarried women who fall pregnant.
The social acceptance of teenage pregnancy is poor, restricted and secluded.
Teenage pregnancies mostly occur in the low socio-economic group where parents work double jobs and teenage children are left unsupervised.
There’s a Malay proverb heard in these parts: “Biar mati anak, jangan mati adat” (let the child die but not tradition).
It portrays the anger and betrayal felt by parents upon realising that their daughter may have fallen pregnant, and instead of support, most of these families are more focused on handling the embarrassment and shame.
Thank you for beginning a discussion on this topic, but we must address the root causes and heal this sickness infecting our nation.
JASMINE CHO
Kuala Lumpur