Alleged abuse at welfare homes: Malaysia firm denies wrongdoing; neighbours say kids kept to themselves

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian conglomerate has denied exploiting children as workers and said that it will take legal action against any “malicious defamation”, after 20 welfare homes police said were linked to it were raided over allegations of exploitation and sexual abuse involving 402 children.
However, residents near one of the homes in Puchong told CNA that they have seen the children engaged in various work and businesses, such as helping out at a stable that offers paid rides with animals and selling goat milk.
The children also kept largely to themselves, and did not seem to follow typical Islamic religious practices such as doing Friday prayers with the mosque congregation, the residents said.
On Wednesday (Sep 11), the New Straits Times reported that the welfare homes were linked to the Malaysian company Global Ikhwan Group (GISB), as confirmed by Malaysian Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain.
In a statement quoted by the media, Mr Razarudin said preliminary police investigations had concluded that the rescued minors aged between one and 17 years old were children of Malaysian GISB employees.
Another local media platform Utusan Malaysia reported Mr Razarudin had said police were investigating allegations that the company was involved in exploiting children, particularly to collect donations.
GISB denied that it exploited children as workers and pushed back at the allegations as malicious slander.
“We deny these allegations and stress that the company will not compromise with any activity that goes against the law, particularly regarding the exploitation of children as workers.
“We are ready to offer our cooperation to the authorities to resolve this issue”, it said in a statement released late on Wednesday. 
The company also refuted allegations of involvement with sexual abuse and said the raided homes were not under its management, The New Straits Times reported.
“We will not hesitate to take legal action against any party who intentionally or maliciously defames GISB,” the news portal cited the company as saying.
The company’s officials are supposed to meet the Islamic development department (JAKIM) over claims it was involved with the deviant teachings of the banned Al-Arqam sect, according to Free Malaysia Today.
GISB Holdings, a Muslim conglomerate, which has assets totalling around RM325 (US$74.9 million) million globally, was established in 2010. 
It owns supermarkets, minimarkets, bakeries,120 restaurants and other businesses in Malaysia, the Middle East, Europe and China, according to a 2022 report cited in Free Malaysia Today.
The conglomerate operates a network of 415 business outlets across 20 countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australasia, as reported by The Malaysian Reserve.
According to the New Straits Times, GISB generates an annual revenue of RM187 million, comparable to many public-listed companies.
The company has been linked to the now-defunct Malaysia-based Al-Arqam religious sect, which was banned by the Malaysian government in 1994.
GISB has acknowledged the link but now describes itself as an Islamic conglomerate based on Muslim practices.
Police rescued 201 boys and 201 girls from 18 charity homes in Selangor state in the early hours of Sep 11. They also rescued two from homes in Negeri Sembilan.
“The simultaneous raids at the charity homes at both states led to the arrest of 171 individuals including caretakers, ustaz (religious teachers) and the chairmen of the premises,” Mr Razarudin said on Wednesday, as quoted in the New Straits Times. 
He added that police had arrested 66 men and 105 female suspects aged between 17 and 64-years-old.
According to Mr Razarudin, the victims, who were locals, had endured various forms of exploitation and abuse including being sodomised by caretakers. They were also taught to perform similar acts on other children at the home.
The victims allegedly suffered punishment with heated metal objects and inappropriate touching under the guise of religious medical treatment.
“What we have seen is the indoctrination of children using religious tools in a harmful way,” said Mr Razarudin, as quoted in regional media. 
He added that the case was being investigated under laws covering sexual offences against children and human trafficking.
The United Nations’ children’s agency said on Thursday that the children had faced “unimaginable horrors”.
“These children have experienced unimaginable horrors and will need long-term professional medical and psychosocial support,” Mr Robert Gass, the Malaysia representative for UNICEF, said.
“The damage caused is serious and often results in lifelong consequences.”
Residents CNA spoke to in the quaint enclave of Kampung Seri Aman in Puchong, where one of the children’s homes that was raided by police is located, said they believed the home was linked to GISB.
They said the home that was raided – which was signposted as a welfare home for orphans and the less fortunate – only housed girls, while the boys came from another GISB-branded petting farm about a five-minute drive away.
Residents said the children, who are in their teens, usually kept to themselves and rarely took part in community activities.
When they are seen in public, they are usually engaging in business activities, like manning a cafe at the girls’ home, or peddling horse rides at a mosque near the petting farm.
When CNA visited the girls’ home, it appeared to be empty with its gates locked shut. The adjoining cafe, with a banner advertising mixed rice dishes at half price, was also closed.
One resident, who lived opposite the home and only wanted to be known as Mr Rozi, said he saw many police cars while driving out to work on Wednesday morning, when the raid happened.
Mr Rozi said he always saw the girls come out to work at the cafe, and that he himself was in the dark about what had happened.
“I’ve lived here for 13 years; I did not suspect that things were happening behind closed doors,” he told CNA, referring to allegations that the children were abused.
Another resident who lives beside the home said the local community in the kampung had long known about GISB and its links to the Al-Arqam sect.
“But we did not bother to try to find out more, as they did not mix with the community,” said the resident, who only gave his name as Mr Jeffrey.
Mr Jeffrey said he saw multiple police vehicles while coming back from work at around 7.30am on Wednesday.
“I asked the police officer what was going on, but they didn’t want to say,” he said.
Meanwhile at the GISB petting farm, CNA observed that it was empty, with a horse and a few goats unattended. Next to it was a minimart and burger stall.
A worker at the motor workshop just beside the farm, who wanted to be known only as Mr Lan, said he understood that the boys were there to be trained in various trades like farming, horse riding and repair work.
The farm attracted quite a few visitors and was free to enter, Mr Lan said, adding that the visitors would usually buy food from the burger stall.
“The boys usually studied in the morning, and in the afternoon, they worked at the minimart,” he said, adding that the boys there were usually in their late teens.
On weekends and public holidays, the boys would bring out the horses to a nearby mosque and let people ride them for around RM10, said an administrative worker at the mosque.
The worker, who only wanted to be known as Ms Ina, said she sensed something was amiss when the burger stall was closed during her routine morning walk on Wednesday.
Her route also takes her past the girls’ home, and that was when she saw that the narrow road was jammed up due to the large police presence there.
“I saw that some of the girls were being rounded up in a corner, but I couldn’t see much else as the place was cordoned off,” she told CNA.
Ms Ina said rumours had long spread in community social media groups about the children and their ties to GISB.
She said the boys from the petting farm were distinctly recognisable in their colour-coordinated T-shirts paired with a taller type of Islamic headgear.
They also had some peculiar religious practices, like not doing their Friday prayers at the mosque together with the congregation, she said.
“In the afternoons, they would bring cartons of goat milk to sell door to door,” she said.
Ms Ina believes that the children in these places are the children of GISB members themselves, despite some of these facilities portraying themselves as a religious welfare home for the less fortunate.
“I feel sympathetic that these children are alleged to be abused. We cannot see what is going on from outside when the gates are closed,” she added.