Malaysia’s child abuse shocker highlights need for reforms

Malaysia has been rocked by one of the worst sexual child abuse scandals in her history. 

More than 500 children have been rescued from multiple charity homes run by a Malaysian conglomerate, Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH), a firm that Malaysian authorities have also accused of human trafficking and practicing deviant Islam. 

Medical examinations reveal that multiple children from these homes suffered horrible sexual abuse, were repeatedly sodomized and allegedly encouraged to sodomize others. Hundreds of other children suffered from neglect, with one father of 34 children from multiple wives not knowing where 32 of his children were.

The GISBH case has brought much-needed attention to child abuse. 

Malaysian child advocates have long argued for more scrutiny on the problem. Local studies suggest that at least 25% of children in Malaysia experience physical abuse, and 10% have experienced sexual abuse. 

There is a longstanding culture of denial about social problems such as child abuse, especially in the Malay Muslim majority community where the abuse cases are most numerous. Resistance to discuss the causes of the problems runs deep.

Multiple governments are guilty of not effectively tackling the problem of sexual abuse of children. While Malaysia has strong laws against child abuse, there are gaps in implementation and practices that allow the problem to fester. 

Inadequate oversight of care homes that are not licensed, repeated cover ups and pressure on victims to not report abuse have created a climate where abuses can occur with impunity. Protections and recourse for victims are minimal, with many victims and their families bullied into silence. 

All too often, authorities end by again victimizing those who report abuse, because they are more concerned with how the system looks rather than whether it works.

The GISBH scandal has also exposed sexual abuse that occurs under the cover of religion in Malaysia. As is the case globally, religious institutions are often unwilling to address child abuse within their own communities. 

The matter is being handled by the police. After 41 police reports about GISBH since 2019 and a threshold of credible evidence for prosecution reached, authorities are finally taking action. 

Nasiruddin Mohd Ali, the firm’s CEO, has been arrested. He had initially denied that abuse took place at the homes, but later admitted publicly there had been “one or two” sodomy cases, and called for a “discussion” with the authorities. 

Since the investigation became public two weeks ago, there have been over 170 arrests, 96 accounts frozen valued at U.S. $124 million and six people charged. The investigation continues.

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The GISBH cases are not the first linking an Islamic institution with sexual abuse in Malaysia. 

Since 2017, there have been at least nine cases of tahfiz schools and Islamic religious teachers involved in sexual abuse. Tahfiz schools teach memorization of the Quran, and are mostly residential institutions.   

While GISBH is being tied to the so-called deviant al-Arqam Islamic sect, which was banned from 1994, the scandal is far from an isolated one. 

The abuse worsens when the abusers are using the cover of religion to carry out their crimes. In Malaysia, few religious leaders are willing to crack down on colleagues.  

That the CEO of GISBH felt he could just have a “discussion’” with the authorities speaks to a sense of impunity. 

Ironically, many of these same religious leaders are the ones who are advocating for greater intolerance and social controls on the behavior of citizens. The scandal highlights that Malaysia’s Muslim religious leaders need to put in place clearer regulations for their faith-based organizations that comply with global standards of child protections.

Serious questions are being asked about Malaysia’s Islamic bureaucracy. Who was responsible for oversight? 

The leading body managing Islamic affairs, the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM) has denied responsibility, claiming the issues and enforcement fall outside of their purview. 

Yet the scandal showcases major gaps in governance: concerns with polygamy leading to child abandonment and neglect; lack of proper oversight of tahfiz schools; inadequate regulations; poor background checks of religious teachers/carers and concerning reports about complicity by authorities. Children should not be made to suffer for failures in administration.  

As Malaysia’s religious authorities have been given more taxpayer funding and powers in Malaysia, the GISBH scandal emphatically shows that more needs to be done to reform governance. But there is strong resistance to look inward. 

Enterprises purporting to follow Islamic principles have mushroomed in Malaysia. The use of an “Islamic” brand has become big business. Such Islamic services have grown exponentially, catering to a market that increasingly identifies with its faith.

GISBH took advantage of this trend. 

Having operated for more than two decades, GISBH is now a multimillion international conglomerate running charity homes, restaurants, bakeries, pharmacies, bookstores and grocery stores, with widespread holdings in Malaysia and internationally. With headquarters in Malaysia, the company has 415 outlets operating in 20 countries. 

Even though GISBH has been linked to the illegal al-Arqam, it has apparently been able to expand its business holdings with privilege. 

With many blaming “deviants” tied to a banned religious sect for the crimes in these cases, they marginalize the abuse rather than recognize the crime and related problems as more pervasive. 

For instance, the Islamist party PAS (Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party) has called on authorities to protect the GISBH business network and for authorities not to be “overzealous.” 

The party’s call for caution echoes a consistent pattern of downplaying abuse and the crimes involved. 

Surprisingly far too few political leaders across the political spectrum are speaking out for the victims. Many have been allegedly seen to have close ties to GISBH, featured in meetings in the company’s regular newsletters. 

Malaysia’s royals, however, have called for swift action on the abuse, as have a handful of parliamentarians, including Penang’s Syerleena Abdul Rashid, who condemned the abuse in a viral video. 

Many are speaking out from civil society as well. 

The Malaysian Bar and G25, the respected local organization of retired government officials, have called for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to learn from the scandal and better protect children. Activists have also raised concerns about child welfare. 

Lessons from Catholic Church

There is growing momentum to use the GISBH scandal as a turning point. 

A start is to appreciate that those involved in crimes within religious-branded institutions are a minority who use the cover of faith, and a recognition that the issues cannot be resolved through arrests and prosecutions alone. 

Here, the lessons of the Catholic Church’s sexual abuses are relevant. 

Child abuse within institutions inflicts damage on their standing. Public trust in the Catholic Church has never been the same. The church’s failure to take responsibility and make timely and substantive reforms for decades of abuse increased the number of victims. 

Protecting one’s own rather than those that need protection will have corrosive consequences. In places where the Church was accountable and made reforms, it regained trust and, importantly, helped the victims. 

The problem of child abuse needs to be discussed frankly and openly in Malaysia, with more accountability.

The GISBH scandal is an opportunity to reform Malaysia’s Islamic institutional governance and to strengthen protections for victims facing abuse. 

It is clear there is an urgent need to zealously, bravely and constructively discuss the problems the scandal has exposed and find holistic solutions. 

An independent researcher, Bridget Welsh is an honorary research associate at the Asia Research Institute of University of Nottingham Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur and a Senior Associate Fellow of The Habibie Center. The views expressed here are her own and do not reflect the position of the University of Nottingham Malaysia, The Habibie Center or BenarNews.