Make 'em Today, Dump 'em Tomorrow

If one would flip the pages of any of the local papers nowadays, one could not help but to shudder and express, in their own ways, their feelings of disgust, sadness and perhaps anger when one would come across unfortunate yet real stories of babies being discarded and disposed off in the most unlikely of places ― garbage dumps, bushes, monsoon drains, dark footways, toilet bowls etc.

In some instances, these media reports may contain photo shots of the dead foetuses, or perhaps graphic description of these babies being ravaged by stray dogs, succumbed to insect bites and defenselessly exposed to harsh weather conditions. It is even no longer surprising if we come across news of babies found dead with their umbilical cord STILL attached to their bodies.

                                                Picture courtesy of http://www.dimensionsguide.com/

The next question that  typical Malaysian would ask is "who should be blamed for this societal mess??". (GOTCHA THERE DIDN'T I?). Yes, a very-the-typical Malaysian spirit, constantly seeking as to whom the blame should be put on when there is any issue affecting our society. Certain quarters even went to the extent of blaming pornography for this so-called societal illness.
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                                          This is no porn.  Picture courtesy of http://medindia.net/ 

Just for the record, THE AQUINAS will not point his finger towards anyone in this matter, since there are many others who are more than willing to do just that for him. 

Moving on. With regards to this pertinent issue, there is currently a notion that suggests the perpetrators of such inhumanely act to be charged for culpable homicide or in the extreme cases, murder. The sentence for the latter, in Malaysia, is of course punishable by death, thanks to Section 302 of the Penal Code. The rationale behind it? However arguable this may sound, please allow THE AQUINAS to lay down some knowledge on this rationale, as knowledge by itself is the only asset that never depletes when given away..

The significant ingredient for murder, besides the very act of killing itself, is of course the wrongful state of mind while committing the act of murder. If you non-legal entities would like to impress your peers with some Latin lexicons, THE AQUINAS' legal brethrens call this element mens rea. To cut to the chase, the knowledge that such act would result in death, on the part of the perpetrator, can be considered as a mens rea. With the bare legal essentials done, let us now try to piece this together. When a person contemplates as to whether or not to dump his/her baby, it is not impossible to rule out the possibility that he/she has the knowledge that the chances of the baby dying is in fact very material. However, he/she decides to do it ANYWAY. In other words, he/she has the knowledge that such act of dumping babies could lead to the death of the baby itself. Simple as it may sound, but believe me, the real process of pursuing a criminal liability against a person is far from easy as compared to what THE AQUINAS had painted.

What does THE AQUINAS think about this? Well, to him, THE AQUINAS is of the opinion that imposing a death punishment is not at all an automatic call to end this societal menace. Well, the death punishment didn't even stop people from murdering one another, why would it stop baby-dumpers? I can still recall the time when we heard of people lobbying a death sentence for rapists. As per one of my esteemed lecturers, this is the Malaysian attitude - impose the death sentence, end of story.

THE AQUINAS has spoken.