Infant found at a housing park

BEKASI, West Java (JP): A newly-born baby boy, presumably born out of wedlock, was found crying in a housing complex park by local residents yesterday.

"The infant, who was still bleeding, was wrapped in a pink cloth lying face down in a bush of grass," Mini, 45, a resident of South Bekasi who found the baby, said.

Mini, whose house is in front of the park, said she had heard the baby crying since 5 a.m. but initially thought the baby was the child of a relative's who had just arrived from North Sumatra.

She said she rescued the baby about 6 a.m.

"When I opened the cloth, I found the baby with ants swarming all over his body. His placenta was cut but its end was untied," Mini said.

She gave the baby to a neighbor's maid, Tuty, and phoned a housing complex security official.

"The baby is very handsome. He has thick hair and his weight was about four kilograms," said Tuty.

"It was God who saved the baby," said an emotional Tuty. "A neighbor's dog who usually drags any clothes which are left on the front veranda, did not disturb the infant."

The security official called police and handed the baby to a police officer.

The baby, believed to have been deserted by his mother out of shame because he was born of an illicit relationship, is now being treated at the Bekasi general hospital. (kod)