Analysts: Abuse case at child welfare homes reflects Malaysia’s messy regulatory framework

Malaysian analysts have blamed the country’s messy system of licensing and overseeing child welfare homes as the main reason alleged abuse was rampant for years at the centers where police last week rescued 402 children.

The child rights analysts and activists said that under current laws, different agencies are responsible for registering and conducting regular checks on these homes, which has led to many facilities escaping scrutiny amid the confusion over which body is actually in charge.

And with rules to establish such homes complicated, many companies or organizations set them up without registering, which means many don’t have the government-mandated quality and quantity of staff or a clear child protection policy in place.

The Malaysian Bar, the country’s legal association, is urging the government to investigate how the centers managed to operate unchecked since at least 2013.

“The fact that these care homes have operated without proper oversight raises alarming questions about the existing regulatory framework,” Mohamad Ezri Abdul Wahab, president of the Malaysian Bar, said in a statement Wednesday.

“We need to adopt a holistic approach to prevent the recurrence of such tragedies. This includes not only immediate action against the perpetrators, but also long-term reform of the systems overseeing these centers.”

Child welfare homes in Malaysia are mainly for orphans or children from low-income families where parents are unable to provide care.

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Majority of GISBH-linked homes not registered

Police last week rescued hundreds of children in simultaneous raids on 20 child welfare homes linked to a company called Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH).

Authorities have linked the company to al-Arqam, a group the Malaysian government had banned in 1994 alleging it promoted a deviant form of Islam in the Muslim-majority country.

Of the 20 GISBH-linked children’s welfare homes, only two were registered, police said.

During the raids, police also arrested 159 suspects after they found children between the ages of 1 and 17 living in squalid conditions in the homes in the states of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, officials said. 

Many of the children had been caned, burned, starved, forced into hard labor and emotionally abused, police said Tuesday after completing health screenings on most of them. Local media reported that police alleged at least 13 children were sodomized or taught to sexually assault others.

Videos apparently taken in the GISBH-linked child homes and circulating on social media, which authorities confirmed as authentic, show scenes of abuse, including corporal punishment. One clip shows a boy pinned to the ground while being physically punished.

GISBH has denied responsibility for the abuse allegations, stating it was offering services in line with Islamic education and was unaware of any wrongdoing at the homes. The group said the accusations were an attempt to tarnish its reputation.

In a video statement over the weekend, GISBH Chief Executive Nasiruddin Ali played down the accusations, saying “one or two cases of sodomy” occurred in the homes, local media reported.

One of the people arrested from the GISBH-linked homes and remanded was charged in court on Wednesday.

Police said the man was linked to GISBH, but the suspect’s lawyer denied any affiliation. He was charged with threatening a former company employee on Sept. 9 and asking her to withdraw a police report about her employer.

Neither the court nor police revealed any details about the police report lodged by the woman.

A day after the arrests, a 19-year-old woman had been charged with four counts of child abuse for using hot spoons to cause burns and physical injuries to some children.

For child rights activist James Nayagam, the social welfare department under the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development is to blame for unchecked abuse at children’s homes.

“The welfare department should be held accountable,” James, who is also chairman of the Suriana Welfare Society, told BenarNews.

“They divided the registration of homes and NGOs according to different departments. … This fragmentation in oversight is what led to the neglect and abuse.”

National Police Chief Razarudin Husain said officers are investigating whether the welfare department’s lapses contributed to GISBH-linked homes operating without registration.

“The best solution is for all organizations handling children to fall under the welfare department. This would ensure proper management and monitoring of the welfare of children across the board,” Suriana Welfare Society’s James said.

The social welfare department’s website spells out requirements to open a child welfare home.

It says operators must register either with the Companies Commission of Malaysia if they are running a for-profit concern, or with the Registrar of Societies if they are not.

Care homes for persons with disabilities fall under the social welfare department’s purview. And some Islamic child welfare centers fall under the jurisdiction of government or government-backed religious bodies.

‘Action after the fact’

Wong Poai Hong, director of the NGO Childline Foundation, said having different agencies in charge of licensing and overseeing these homes meant different rules, which compounded the problem.

“All private or NGO-run centers are licensed by the welfare department. However, religious groups like JAKIM also oversee some of these homes and the regulations vary,” she told BenarNews. JAKIM is the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia, a government body.

She noted that the licensing process itself is “long and winding,” which discourages some operators from registering their homes. This allows them to also get away without following the government’s rules on the eligibility of staff and other policies, Wong said.

BenarNews reached out to the welfare department and religious authorities for comment on the allegedly tardy inspection of GISBH-linked children's homes, but did not hear back.

Meanwhile, authorities have placed 149 of the 402 children rescued in government welfare department homes at four undisclosed locations managed by the welfare department.

The remaining 243 children, who are still in temporary police care in Kuala Lumpur, will be eventually moved to welfare department homes as well, police said.

Regarding the police follow-up investigations and the government’s plan for children, activist Hartini Zainuddin said “again, this action is being taken after the fact.

“It’s always a response to a crime that has already been committed, rather than a proactive approach to prevent it in the first place.”