Letter from a 12-year-old who left his newborn sister at Pasar Minggu: Please treat her as your own child

A 12-year-old boy is suspected of abandoning his newborn baby sister in a nasi uduk cart in the Pejaten area of Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta. Along with the baby, he left a letter containing a simple yet heart-wrenching request: that his sister be cared for as if she were his own child. In the letter, the boy identified only by the initials Z wrote that he would not return or visit his sister again, saying he had made the decision so the baby’s future would not be like his own. The incident occurred on Jalan Pejaten Raya, Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, on Tuesday afternoon, 3 March 2026. The Pasar Minggu police chief Anggiat Sinambela said the newborn girl was estimated to be about two days old when found. The estimate was based on the writing in the letter found with the baby. ‘The baby girl is estimated to be two days old according to the writing on the paper penned by someone with the initials Z, who is suspected of deliberately abandoning the baby at the scene,’ Anggiat said in a statement. In the note, Z introduced himself as the elder brother of a baby girl named AR who was born the day before. ‘My sister was born on 2 March 2026,’ Z wrote in the letter. He also explained that their mother had died during the birth of AR. Under these circumstances, Z admitted he could not care for his baby sister alone. ‘Assalamualaikum, Sir/Madam who found my sister, I, Z, would like to ask you to take care of my sister, because my mother died during the birth,’ he wrote. At the end of the letter, Z expressed a simple yet moving hope.