Rohani: No rampant baby selling in Malaysia

PUTRAJAYA:  Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Rohani Abdul Karim (pic) has refuted the claim of rampant baby selling in Malaysia, by television station Al Jazeera.

She said Al Jazeera's documentary titled "Malaysia: Babies for Sale - 101 East", describing Malaysia as a baby-selling hub was a serious allegation and did not portray the real situation in this country.

"The documentary contains flaws and has made allegations as though it is so easy to sell babies in Malaysia. This is not true.

"It (baby selling) in this country is not rampant. It did happen about three years ago, investigations were carried out and arrests made. At the same time, the babies were also saved," she told reporters, here, Tuesday.

Rohani had earlier chaired a meeting involving her ministry, various departments and relevant agencies over the claim of a baby-selling racket in Malaysia where infants were allegedly sold to the highest bidder.

Among the representatives at the meeting were from the Home, Foreign and Health ministries, National Registration Department and Royal Malaysian Police.

Rohani said police were contacting the Al Jazeera station's production crew involved in making the documentary to obtain information over the veracity of the report.

She said investigations were also being carried out by the relevant ministries and agencies, while police had formed a special unit to investigate the claims made in the documentary.

"We need further information to find out if the babies actually became adopted children or were bought for other purposes such as for sexual crime, child labour or for sale of their organs," she said.

Rohani also stated that the legitimate child adoption process was not difficult and cumbersome to the extent of taking years, as claimed by the Al Jazeera documentary.

She said the process had been made easier, including introducing online registration.

"Nevertheless, the Social Welfare Department needs to carry out screening and verification to ensure that only the eligible and genuine ones can adopt children. This will take a bit of time," she added. - Bernama