IPOH (THE STAR /ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - "Please take care of my baby, I'm so sorry I have to abandon him."

Such heartfelt words were written in a letter found together with a newborn baby boy, whose cries caught the attention of a man who had just reached home.

After parking his motorcycle in front of his house at Jalan Selasih, Kampung Kurnia Jaya in Kamunting, the man heard the cries of a baby.

He was surprised to find a baby placed next to a flower pot at around 2.30am on Monday (Dec 25).

Acting Taiping OCPD Supt Razlam Ab Hamid said the baby was found healthy, wrapped in a green curtain cloth and was placed on a black plastic bag on the ground.

The note also went on to say: "I will watch over him from afar. Please don't tell him about this, just tell him that uncle and auntie are his biological parents.

"I can't look after him myself but I really love him, please forgive me I come from a faraway place. I hope that what I am doing is for the sake of my son's future.

"I want him to live happily. Don't let others insult him for being an illegitimate child. Please take care of him, and don't tell others unless they're family."

Supt Razlam said the witness immediately called 999 and the baby, with his umbilical cord still attached, was sent to the Taiping Hospital in an ambulance.

"The witness hadn't the faintest idea who could have abandoned a baby in front of his house like this," he said.

Supt Razlam said doctors estimated that the baby was born around two hours before he was found and weighing 2 to 2.5kg.

"We are unable to identify the nationality of the baby," he said, adding that the baby will be placed under the care of the Social Welfare Department.

The case is being investigated under Section 317 of the Penal Code for exposure and abandonment of a child under 12.