In a statement today, the department’s director Halyjah Muhammad said the centre’s closure took effect at 5pm yesterday.

She said a closure order notice was signed by the childcare centre owner and displayed at the entrance of the premises.

Although the childcare centre was not registered with the department, it had received support from agencies such as the Alor Gajah Municipal Council and the state health department.

Following the incident, a 34-year-old woman working as a caregiver at the centre was remanded for seven days to assist in the investigation for murder under Section 302 of the Penal Code.

Meanwhile, Halyjah said action had been taken against 27 unregistered childcare centres in the state since last August. Nine of them, for instance, were ordered to close while the owner of one nursery was charged in court.

“The social welfare department has formed a task force dedicated to the legalisation of unregistered childcare centres and has held discussions with nursery associations to ensure immediate registration,” she said.

Halyjah advised parents to send their children to registered nurseries to avoid any untoward incident, adding that the list of registered childcare centres was available on the department’s website.

“There are still owners who are stubborn (not registering their centres) because there is high demand from parents,” she said.

She added that currently there are 137 registered childcare centres in Melaka Tengah, 101 in Alor Gajah, and 19 in Jasin, serving more than 20,000 children.