Baby Dumping free essay sample

The increasing cases of outrageous acts of dumping new-born babies and foetuses in Malaysia recently alarming the Malaysian to take serious attention in handling this matter. This research was about teenagers’ perception on baby dumping issue. Out of 7,535 populations at four selected schools at the area of Bakar Arang State Assembly under Sungai Petani Parliamentary, Kedah, 400 students were selected as respondents. In this study, simple random sampling was used. This research used Descriptive Statistic and Pearson Correlation for data analysis purposes. Data were collected from July until October 2010. Three hypotheses were tested and accepted. The result indicates that there were positive relationship between awareness towards consequences of free sex, knowledge on sex education and religious belief towards baby dumping cases. The significant of this study was awareness creation on consequences of having free sex among youngsters as well as parents and school administration and also inclusive of religious bodies/agencies in taking seriously on the impact of this issue towards our social development in global era. Conclusion/Recommendations: The recommendations were made to the parties concerned in this issue in order to find the best solution in curbing this problem. Keywords: Baby dumping, Teen, Awareness, Sex Education, Religious Belief. 1. Introduction Lately, Malaysia is facing a serious issue regarding on baby dumping which getting more chronic and cause a lot of attention. This social problem appears every day in newspaper and mass media. From the period of January until July 2010, public were shocked, appalled, dismayed by the increasing reported cases of abandoned babies, some of whom were found dead. This incident indirectly indicated that something is wrong in our society [1][2][3][4][5]. What is actually the issue of baby dumping? It is not only just dumping new-born babies but also refers to discarding or leaving alone, 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. The worse situation of this issue also can be seen when a girl gives birth in a school bathroom at night then throws the baby into the garbage or in the toilet bowl, also when a baby flung in the chicken coop, a baby swaddled in newspapers left squalling by a fly-infested dustbin, a baby abandoned under the harsh sun beating down on a wet rice field, a baby stuffed into a cabinet drawer, a baby left on the doorsteps of peoples home with notes or in a mosque. It is so embarrassing, sad and worst scenario that happened in our society. + Corresponding author. Tel. : +604- 4562519; fax: +604- 4562234 E-mail address: [emailprotected] itm. edu. my. 137 Statistics from the Malaysia Welfare Department for this year, from January to April 2010, reported that 111 unmarried young girls were pregnant. The figure, however, is just the tip of the iceberg as many cases go unreported and pregnancies terminated. It also reported in New Straits Times on 23rd July 2010, the body of a baby girl found in a bag at a bus stop near the Sultan Ismail Hospital, Johor Bahru in the morning. Also there a baby found buried. New Straits Times on 18th July 2010, reported that a fetus was found buried by the roadside in Jalan 12, Bandar Puteri Puchong, Selangor. Baby dumping is not the solution to a life problem and it could be charged under Section 317 of the Penal Code which carries a maximum jail term of seven years or fine or both according to the Malaysian law. For the past few years there are many newborn babies have been found, dead or live in the most unlikely places like rubbish dump. For instance, The Malay Mail on 26 July 2011 [5] reported that a fetus with the umbilical cord intact was found in a garbage can at Pulau Mutiara wholesale market in Jalan Makloom, Penang. This shows clearly that â€Å"baby dumping† is really serious problem that currently happened in our society. 2. Problem Statement Table 1. Statistic of baby dumping cases from the Headquarters of Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM): By State from 2005 until 7 April 2010 Cases of Baby Dumping Reported in Each State from 2005 until 7th April 2010 States Number of cases Selangor 105 Johor 83 Sabah 65 Sarawak 34 Negeri Sembilan 24 Pulau Pinang 22 Perak 19 Pahang 17 Kedah 17 Kelantan 10 Terengganu 5 Melaka 3 Kuala Lumpur 2 Perlis 1 Total 407 Based on Table 1, the statistic from the Headquarters of Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) [6] indicated that there were 407 cases of baby dumping, for the past five years starting from 2005 until 7th April 2010. On average, there are 68 cases every year and these cases keep increasing. While in Figure 1. 2. 1, it shows that, there are 472 babies found dumped nationwide since 2005 until 16th August 2010. In year 2010 alone, it already recorded 65 cases up to 16 August 2010. That is means average 8 cases per month solely in year 2010 and this figure is not included the cases that not reported. According to Federal Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Director Commissioner Datuk Seri Bakri Zinin, this year alone (2010), as at 16 August 2010, 65 dumped babies had been. As compared to 42 cases during the same period last year (2009), there is an increase in these cases [7]. Recently, the Cabinet also informed that there were 21 recorded cases of students who got pregnant out of wedlock between 2006 and 2010. Then, what about the unreported and unrecorded cases? Public belief that the figure more than what we can imagine. After all the shocking incidents proven by the data produced by PDRM and Welfare Department, we found a strong base to do this study. 3. Methods Material A simple random sampling technique was conducted among 400 students (out of total 7535 students) from Form One until Form Six (Upper Six) in secondary schools at the area of Bakar Arang State Assembly under Sungai Petani Parliamentary, Kedah. The schools involved were Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan 138 Ibrahim, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sungai Pasir, Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Khir Johari and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bandar Sungai Petani in Sungai Petani, Kedah.