Cases of baby dumping in Malaysia are still widespread despite the laws in place. More importantly, not only must the problem be addressed from a social perspective, but the adequacy of existing laws must also be addressed to combat the problem of baby dumping in Malaysia. The laws regarding baby dumping need to be analyzed and revised to control this problem.
34 Joseph Kaos Jr., "Wan Azizah: Baby dumping cases must be dealt with promptly." The star.
LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR CHILDREN’S RIGHTS
Islamic Law
According to Sardar Muhammad Iqbal Mokal, "a crime is an act or omission, in violation of municipal law, tending to the prejudice of society, for which punishment may be imposed as a result of legal proceedings taken in the name of the State." 52 This shows that any act done by a person which may prove injurious to the life of another person, to which the former has no right, is a crime and would necessitate. Whoever kills a person for anything other than manslaughter or corruption in the land, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoever ever saves the life of one person, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind. " 53. Retribution is prescribed for you in the case of murder.”55 According to Sunnah Abu Daud, “anyone who intentionally causes death to a person will be liable for Qisas, ie. death, unless the victim's heirs forgive him."56 Sharia law considers baby dumping to be a sinful act and imposes a harsh punishment on the perpetrator because another person's life is considered sacred and must be fully protected.
The spirit of Shariah law must be in line with the maqasid al-Shariah as explained by Iman Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, a prominent and highly respected reformer in the 5th century of Hijrah, who classified the maqasid into five main categories. According to him, "the very purpose of the Sharī'ah is to promote the welfare of the people, which consists in protecting their faith (dīn), their selves (nafs), their intellect ('aql), their descendants (nasl), and their wealth (māl ).Whatever ensures the protection of these five serves the public interest and is desirable, and whatever harms them is against the public interest and it is desirable to remove it.”57 In the above quote, al-Ghazali has placed great emphasis on protecting the five maqāsides, namely: faith (dīn), the human self (nafs), intellect ('aql), posterity (nasl) and wealth (māl).
Based on Article 121(1A), Sharia law plays an important role in the country, even though it only applies to Muslims and its jurisdiction is limited to personal and family matters. 57 Muhammed Umer Chapra, The Islamic Vision of Development in the light of Maqasid Al Shariah, The International Institute of Islamic Thought, London, 2008, 3-4. 58 Section 121 (1A) stated that "The courts referred to in Clause (1) shall have no jurisdiction in respect of any matter within the jurisdiction of the Sharia Courts."
PROBLEM STATEMENT
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Who should bear the responsibility for promoting legislation and laws that would criminalize child dumping. Laws in England and Wales and the United States will be assessed and compared with Malaysian laws to assess the severity of penalties and the effectiveness of the laws in curbing the problem of child abandonment. The following refers to precedents for punishment and sentencing in cases of abandoned children in Malaysia and other countries.
To address this question, the present research aims to evaluate past and present cases related to infant shedding. The current research aims to investigate the adequacy of laws in combating infant abortion in Malaysia. The relevance of the laws to the decrease in the number of abortion cases is analyzed, supported by the opinions of the experts and laymen on the matter.
For the current study, any law relevant to infant abandonment that may or may not lead to death will be evaluated as there is currently no consistent definition of the term baby dumping in Malaysia. To analyze the laws from the perspective of other jurisdictions and determine the most appropriate laws to adopt in Malaysia. In particular, laws regarding baby dumping in the United Kingdom and the United States will be analyzed for their appropriateness.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The difference between this thesis and others is that the writer discusses baby dumping in Malaysia in the socio-legal context. The current research framework covers a wide range of social and legal studies on the adequacy of the law in combating the issue of infant abandonment in Malaysia. In the past, the issue of baby dumping was not discussed openly as it was seen as taboo and the public considered it an isolated issue.
In recent years, there have been constant reports of baby dumping in local newspapers in Malaysia. The widespread baby dumping has not only damaged the country's reputation, but is also a sign that existing laws need to be revised as they are no longer able to tackle this social problem. Furthermore, the punishment for dumping babies has always been debated and relying solely on the provisions of the Criminal Code seems insufficient.
Therefore, the current study aims to analyze the crime committed against dumped babies, who are the unrepresented victims, as part of the effort to criminalize baby dumping. One study found a significant relationship between awareness of the consequences of casual sex, sex education knowledge and religious beliefs and the issue of baby dumping in Malaysia. This thesis aims to discuss in detail ways to combat baby dumping in Malaysia from a socio-legal perspective.
This thesis also aims to fill the gaps in previous research by emphasizing the socio-legal perspectives in the approach to combating baby dumping in Malaysia. Therefore, it is the sincere hope of the writer that this research will prove to be a useful contribution to academia on the issue of baby dumping in Malaysia by offering a socio-legal perspective on the issue.
SCOPE OF STUDY AND LIMITATIONS
To summarize, the approach taken to combat infant abandonment in Malaysia must be appropriate for its multicultural, multi-religious and multi-racial society. Furthermore, the current research mainly focuses on the issue of baby dumping in Malaysia with reference to previous cases related to abandoned and neglected babies. In addition, the following areas are also covered in this study: (a) cases of infant abandonment and whether it involves death (b) the primary perpetrator and the secondary offender involved, (c) the effectiveness of other alternative solutions that should be are taken into account by Malaysia, and (d) discussion of the consequences of cases of infant abandonment, whether they involve death or otherwise, and the long-term effects of the phenomenon on the community at large.
One of the limitations of the study is that some respondents were unwilling to participate in the interviews, as many consider the issue taboo. However, interviews were necessary to obtain factual information directly from perpetrators or persons involved in child dumping cases. For example, there are only a few books written on baby dumping that you could use as a reference.
The scope of infant abandonment in the current research is relatively narrow with primary concerns; abandonment of children aged 12 and under is also covered in this study. As such, the scope of the current research was expanded to include older children to allow more cases to be documented and reviewed. Furthermore, it is crucial to recognize that there may be cases of abandoned children that are not reported.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
As the qualitative approach was adopted in this study, most of the data sources were collected through library research. In addition, the statistics mentioned in this study were obtained from the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the Royal Malaysian Police Commissioner and the Department of Social Welfare. It is worth noting that the quantitative method was not used in this study even though statistics are sometimes mentioned in the thesis.
For example, simple statistics published in articles from relevant journals are used simply to illustrate public opinion on the issue of infant abandonment. The phenomenological approach to the qualitative method was used to understand the personal experiences of the subjects involved. The purpose of the interviews was to analyze the opinions of experts regarding the punishment for baby dumping in Malaysia and to compare the punishment with the punishment under Islamic law in Malaysia.
Furthermore, the current study adopted a less structured interview technique to gain a higher level of understanding and appreciation of the subject matter with the interviewer. Structured questionnaires were especially used as the instrument of the surveys to collect data from hundreds of respondents. The second survey was conducted among 100 respondents to form a general overview of baby dumping and the baby hatching program in Malaysia.
RESEARCH OUTLINE
In addition, this chapter also highlights the general defenses that apply to child abandonment, such as insanity and juvenile delinquency. Finally, this section evaluates alternatives to punishing child abandonment, including the provision of statewide baby hatches and other approaches such as the introduction of sex education in schools. The main objective of this chapter is to increase public awareness of the crime of child abandonment, to monitor the public for the prevention of the crime and to discuss the utility of the defense of availability provided by law (such as insanity, etc.). .).
The fourth chapter analyzes the data on the criminalization of baby dumping in Malaysia and considers whether baby dumping should constitute a crime. The processes and tools needed to accelerate the criminalization of baby dumping will be addressed, followed by expert critiques of the issue. This chapter also analyzes the rationale for criminalizing infant abortion in Malaysia in light of Malaysia being a predominantly Muslim country, albeit a multi-ethnic one.
A comparison with other countries such as Brunei and Indonesia (Aceh) in relation to baby dumping is also discussed from the Islamic perspective in this chapter. The fifth chapter reviews the methods to combat baby dumping based on experiences from other jurisdictions. Apart from that, this chapter provides the relevant analysis and comparison of previous cases that it intends to investigate.
