The Malaysian businessman at the center of allegations that his company ran care homes where hundreds of children suffered abuse said in a television interview that “one or two sodomy cases” took place in the shelters but denied that there was systematic abuse.
In a mass crackdown on Wednesday, Malaysian police detained 171 suspects who taught religious studies and worked as caregivers, and 405 minors were saved from 20 charity homes.
Nasiruddin Ali, CEO of global Ikhwan Service and Business Holding (GISBH), which is affiliated to a banned sect of the Islamic organisation, claimed in a Facebook video that the organisation had infringed some laws but did not distinguish the laws that had been infringed. He earlier dismissed all the allegations of abuse and stated that GISBH was not involved in the operation of the care homes.
Addressing police raids, Ali said that the authorities should have contacted the company before moving in, claiming that children at shelters did not know the whole truth, claiming,
“There were one or two sodomy cases, but why lump everything together?”
Police Inspector-General Razarudin Husain said that more operations and arrests of the suspects will be conducted in the near future. Work in progress indicates that at least 13 children have been sexually abused.
This paper finds that GISBH has been involved in controversies owing to the Al-Arqam sect, which it funds, and has been squarely targeted by the religious authorities in Malaysia. The UN’s children fund said the ordeal was a horrific experience, saying long-term medical and psychosocial support for the victims was needed, as stated by UNICEF Malaysia’s Robert Gass.
