‘Father neglected Myanmar boys who died after eating binned food scraps’
THE two Myanmar national boys who died after eating food they scrounged from a rubbish bin dumpster in Langkawi on Sunday were neglected by their father. A Kampung Baru Sungai Tepa, Bukit Malut villager, who wished to be known as Kasim, 42, claimed that the boys, aged 4 and 2, were not properly taken care of by their father.
However, the boys were never left starving as the villagers had been feeding them and offering both shelter.
“The fateful incident was due to negligence by the family, and not because they were starving.
“I have also been giving them money almost every day and sometimes we provided them with food,” he said when met at the village yesterday.
Kasim added that the boys were always seen playing near the rubbish bin dumpster, located just 20 metres from his home.
“It was unlikely that they were scrounging the rubbish dumpster for food leftovers because they were starving,” he said.
Kasim said he was unsure of the food that the boys had eaten, adding that wild monkeys had frequented the rubbish bin too, but nothing happened to the animals.
He said the boys and their father came to the village recently.
“They were taking shelter at one of the neighbour’s home here and it is learnt that their mother had left them sometime ago.”
Kasim claimed that he had offered to adopt the boys but their father disagreed.
On Sunday, the brothers died after eating food they scrounged from a rubbish bin in the village.
They reportedly died after their father found them near the rubbish bin dumpster in a disoriented manner.
He rushed them to a neighbour’s home, but the boys stopped breathing several minutes later.
Police believe they ate food scraps they had fished out of the rubbish bin dumpster.
Following the incident, Langkawi district police chief Assistant Commissioner Shariman Ashari said police had detained the boys’ father. He said the man was being investigated under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001 and Section 6(1)(c) of the Immigration Act 1959/63.
Shariman yesterday said the man was also being investigated under Section 15(1) of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952 after he tested positive for drugs.
The boys’ remains were transported from the Sultanah Maliha Hospital in Langkawi to the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital in Alor Star yesterday for postmortem.