Sexual abuse in Islamic social homes reveals weaknesses in child protection in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR – A police raid on 20 children's homes in Malaysia where hundreds of children were allegedly sexually abused has exposed weaknesses in the country's child protection system and thrown a spotlight on the Islamic business group that ran the homes.

Malaysian authorities rescued 402 children, half of them boys and the rest girls, from 20 homes run by Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings, a group that promotes Islamic living, during a police operation on Wednesday. Police arrested 171 suspects, including religious teachers and caregivers.

The group was founded by Ashaari Mohamad, the leader of the Islamic sect Al Arqam – a sect that was considered heretical and banned by the government in 1994. He died in 2010, but the group continues to thrive today.

Details of alleged severe abuse in the homes have sparked outrage and dismay in the predominantly Muslim country, with activists demanding that all children's homes be regulated and monitored and that the Ministry of Social Affairs take tougher action against religious establishments.

“The horrific sexual and physical abuse that has been reported is a major wake-up call. It requires us to reassess the quality and scope of our child protection services,” a group of 38 child activists, human rights groups and social workers said in a joint statement.

National police chief Razarudin Ismail said some of the children, aged between one and 17, had been sexually abused by their guardians and had been taught to sexually abuse each other. He said they had been denied medical treatment and burned with hot metal spoons as punishment for their disobedience.

The children, whose parents are Global Ikhwan employees, have been placed in the homes since childhood and were probably raised from a young age to be loyal to the group, police said. It is believed the children were also used to collect public donations. The case is being investigated for sexual abuse, child neglect and human trafficking.

Razarudin was quoted by national news agency Bernama as saying that 49 children under the age of five and another 10 autistic or disabled children had been handed over to the social welfare department, while the rest were still undergoing medical examinations. He said that so far at least 13 youths had been found to have been anally abused, while 172 had sustained long-term physical and psychological injuries.

Razarudin said the children were home-schooled and did not receive any education. He said some of them had not seen their parents for years as the company sent them abroad to work. Police are investigating whether the children were separated from their parents voluntarily or were forced to do so by the company.

UNICEF Malaysia said the children would require long-term medical and psychological care due to the trauma they experienced.

“As long as children in Malaysia live in unregulated institutional care facilities, they are at increased risk of violence and abuse,” said Malaysian representative Robert Gash.

Mokhtar Tajudin, a spokesman for Global Ikhwan, told the Associated Press on Friday that the homes were not directly run by the group. He did not provide further details. Global Ikhwan denied the allegations of sexual abuse in a statement and described them as an attempt by certain parties to damage the group's reputation.

Global Ikhwan owns mini markets, bakeries, restaurants, pharmacies, real estate and other businesses in around 20 countries. The company employs around 5,000 people.

Global Ikhwan came into the spotlight in 2011 when the organization founded an “obedient wives club” that sparked controversy for teaching women to be “good sex workers” to stop their husbands from cheating on them.

Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, a professor of political science at Universiti Sains Malaysia who has researched Global Ikhwan, said the group was an “economic success story” and had agreed to reform and sever ties with Al-Arqam a decade ago.

He said that although the Al-Arqam community villages were abolished by the government decades ago, many followers have moved to urban homes where they still practice a form of communal living. Children are sent to such homes to receive Islamic education while parents work for the company, he said.

Few details are known about the company's religious teachings and how it is run behind closed doors. The company's video featured images of senior Global Ikhwan officials with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and other government officials, suggesting the company's influence.

Malaysian Human Rights Commission children's commissioner Farah Nini Dusuki questioned how the homes could have gone undetected for years. Islamic authorities in the central state of Selangor, where most of the homes raided are located, said only two of the homes were registered as Islamic schools.

She also raised concerns that there may be unreported abuse cases due to Global Ikhwan's nationwide network. Islamic authorities have said they are monitoring Global Ikhwan because they are concerned about attempts to revive the Arqam movement.

“Who knows how many children out there suffer the same fate and how long they have to endure this abuse before it is discovered,” said MP Syerleena Abdul Rashid.

Malaysia is often praised as a moderate Muslim country, but groups that preach Islam and are not recognized by the government are viewed with suspicion that they could spark unrest. Two-thirds of the country's 34 million people are Muslim.