An engineer is suspected of beating his girlfriend's child and feeding the eight-year-old rice with soy sauce and fried cockroaches, according to a news report.

The 36-year-old suspect was arrested in Georgetown, Penang, in the wee hours of this morning.

Quoting a source, Sinar Harian said the victim had bruises on both hands, chest and back which were believed to be a result of the beatings.

The suspect, it added, was alleged to have used a wooden ruler to hit the victim about 100 times.

A doctor at the Penang Hospital reported the matter to the police when the victim's mother brought the child there for treatment.

The Malay daily said the mother was believed to have witnessed the abuse, but did not intervene as she felt the suspect only wanted to teach her child a lesson.

"Apart from arresting the suspect, police also confiscated a metre-long ruler believed to have been used to hit the suspect.

"The victim suffered the beatings from Nov 1 to Nov 5 because the child was accused of being naughty and telling lies," it added.

Timur Laut district police chief Mior Mior Faridalathrash Wahid confirmed the arrest.

He said the suspect is being investigated under Section 31 (1)(a) of the Child Act 2001.