2 students held over robbery

2010/12/01

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KUALA TERENGGANU: Two youths who made off with RM2,500 after robbing a
convenient store were detained barely two hours later and the loot was recovered.

In the 5.55am incident, two masked men armed with knives and wearing helmets entered the
24-hour convenient store near Kampung Geliga in Chukai and held-up three shop assistants
before escaping with cash from previous night's collection.

One of the shop assistants alerted the Chukai police station and from information gathered, a
police team raided a house in Taman Perwaja, Chukai at 8.30am and arrested a 22-year-old
student.

The suspect led police to his accomplice, a 20-year-old student from Bachok, who was hiding
in the ceiling of a nearby house.

"We seized a homemade pistol, two shotgun cartridges, a black jacket, a knife, a blue dress
and two pairs of grey gloves, from the second suspect," said state police chief Datuk Mohd
Shukri Dahlan.

"Our investigations revealed that the gun was given to the second suspect by a trader. We
arrested the 39-year old trader at his house in Jalan Jakar about six hours later."

Dahlan said the trio are being investigated for possessing the homemade pistol and two
cartridgesn and for possessing a knife.

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Baby dumping in Malaysia: causes and solutions

14:54, September 14, 2010

Malaysia is grappling with the rising cases of abandoned babies, "forcing" the
Malaysian police to investigate baby-dumping cases under the Malaysian Penal
Code for murder or attempt murder.

The Malaysian public blame premarital sex on the over-exposure to sexually-

liberal western culture, while the Malaysian government considers including sex
education in school syllabus.

Experts, on the other hand, say the first step to curb the rising trend is to start
educating the young about their choices.

Linda became pregnant when she was just about to graduate from high school.

Not knowing what to do, the 20-year-old was devastated as her parents wanted
her pregnancy to remain a secret.

But later she found the Kewaja Rehabilitation centre, a women's shelter in Kuala
Lumpur -- which has now become her temporary home until she is due in
October this year.

Pre-marital sex and having a child out of wedlock is deemed deeply shameful in
Malaysia -- a Muslim majority country.

They are not only regarded as a sin, but may also be a punishable crime.

Muslim couples found guilty of fornicating could be fined up to thousands of U.S.

dollars, jailed or caned.

Linda was fortunate to have sought help from a shelter.

But in a society where abortion is prohibited, many girls who share her
experience are left stranded and eventually choose to abandon their babies.

This year alone, the Malaysian police have discovered 65 abandoned infants,
most of them dead by the time they were found.

They were left in rubbish bins, on doorsteps and on the streets, prompting the
government to consider treating these cases as murder or attempted murder.

Dr. Meriam Omar Din, a psychology counsellor at the International Islam

University in Kuala Lumpur believes that cultural stigma that emphasizes
abstinence is the main reason why pregnant girls are so eager to hide their
pregnancy.
"What they are doing is against the value of the family. It is like it is a mistake.
They become desperate, perhaps they cannot see the right person who can help
them find the solution," Meriam said in an interview with Xinhua.

"By the time they star thinking, the baby is out. That is the reason why they
would rather take the risk then to be rejected by the family.

"In our religion, of course having sex (before marriage) is wrong, but throwing
away a baby is worse. So I think throwing a baby is no longer caused by religious
factor but cultural factor," Meriam added.

She said the society's tendency to blame teenage pregnancy on women rather
than men -- could also be a contributing factor to the rising cases of abandoned
babies.

"The woman has to make the decision alone, and they do not have anyone to
turn to and the man by then is not there anymore. To them, it is their fault
because they are pregnant. The man does not want to get married with them.

"If the embarrassment is one factor, if the man still stays and is willing to get
married, I do not think they will throw the baby, " said Meriam.

Women's shelters like the Kewaja Rehabilitation Centre are havens for many
desperate young girls who are pregnant, helping them recover psychologically
and physically while equipping them with skills that could get them a job after
delivering a child.

These shelters protect them momentarily from relatives and friends.

Meanwhile, religious bodies in Malaysia have also geared up to conduct frequent

checks on dormitories and hotel rooms against illicit sexual activities.

And the Malaysian government is now contemplating on teaching sex education

in school -- a much debated move for parents who fear it would promote sexual
behaviors at a young age.

Malaysians are struggling to curb teenage pregnancies and stop more babies
from being abandoned.

It is hard to find the perfect solution that everyone agrees on, but experts are
now suggesting that it is about time that they stop telling young people what not
to do, and instead educating them on how to make the right choices.