Help has poured in for a couple who offered to sell their unborn child so they could pay for heart surgery for their nineteen-month-old son, reports said today.

The chief minister of southern Malacca state, Mohamad Ali Rustam, said he would pay the estimated RM15,000 for surgery for the boy who has a hole in his heart, the Malay Mail said.

The boy's parents, Jamal Harun, 41, and Siti Rogayah Sharudin, 21, had told local media they were prepared to sell their unborn child to a Singaporean couple who had offered them RM30,000.

Illegal to sell babies

"No mother wants to do such a dreadful thing, but I could think of no other way to come up with the money for my son's surgery," Siti said after receiving the offer of help. "I just hope things will get better for us from now on."

Jamal, who earns RM600 a month working at a furniture shop in Malacca state, has also been offered a better job with one of the state government's firms and help in moving into a new home, the Malay Mail said.

Non-governmental organisations had reacted strongly against the couple's plan, and the Bar Council, representing Malaysian lawyers, said it was illegal to sell a human being.