Sexual abuse at Islamic welfare homes exposes weaknesses in child protection in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — A police swoop on 20 child welfare homes in Malaysia where hundreds of children were allegedly sexually abused has exposed weaknesses in child protection in the country and cast 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 aiming to promote an Islamic way of life, during the police sting Wednesday. Police detained 171 suspects, including religious teachers and caretakers.

The business group was founded by Ashaari Mohamad, who headed the Islamic sect Al Arqam — a cult that was deemed heretical and banned by the government in 1994. He died in 2010, but the group has continued to flourish.

Details of alleged serious abuse at the homes have sparked outrage and shock in the predominantly Muslim nation. Activists called for all child centers to be regulated and monitored, and for the Welfare Department to strengthen enforcement on religious institutions.

''The horrific sexual and physical abuse that has been reported... is a major wake-up call. It demands that we re-evaluate the quality and scope of our child protection services,'' a group of 38 child activists, rights groups and social workers said in a joint statement.

National police chief Razarudin Ismail has said some of the children, aged from one to 17, were believed sodomized by their guardians and also taught to sexually abuse each other. He said they were denied medical treatment and burnt with hot metal spoons as punishment for being disobedient.

The children, whose parents are Global Ikhwan employees, were placed at the homes since they were infants and believed to be indoctrinated from young to be loyal to the group, police have said. The children were also believed to have been exploited to collect public donations. The case is being investigated for sexual abuse, child neglect and human trafficking.

Razarudin said the children were home-schooled and has no formal education. He said some of them have not seen their parents for years, as the company sent them to work abroad. Police are investigating whether the children were separated from their parents voluntarily or forced by the company.

UNICEF Malaysia said the children would need long-term medical and psychological support for the trauma they experienced.

''As long as children in Malaysia reside in unregulated institutional care settings, they will remain at heightened risk of suffering violence and abuse,'' said its 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 elaborate. Global Ikhwan in a statement denied the sexual abuse allegations, calling it an attempt by certain parties to tarnish the group's business reputation.

Global Ikhwan owns mini-markets, bakeries, restaurants, pharmacies, properties and other businesses in some 20 countries. The company employs some 5,000 people.

Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, a political science professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia who has conducted research into Global Ikhwan, said the group was an ''economic success story" and had a decade ago agreed to reform and shed ties with Al-Arqam.

He said that although Al Arqam communal villages were abolished by the government decades ago, many followers shifted to urban homes but were still believed to be practising a form of communal living. Children were sent to such homes to obtain Islamic teachings as parents work for the company, he said.

Few details are known on its religious teachings or how company is run behind closed doors. Its corporate video showed pictures of Global Ikhwan top officials with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and other government leaders, an indication of its influence.

The Children's Commissioner at the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, Farah Nini Dusuki, questioned how the homes could have run undetected for years. Islamic authorities in central Selangor state, where the majority of the raided homes are located, have said only two of the homes were registered as Islamic schools.

She also voiced concerns of possible unreported abuse cases due to Global Ikhwan's nationwide network. Islamic authorities have said they are monitoring Global Ikhwan amid concerns over attempts to revive the Arqam movement.