“The state government is committed to protecting tahfiz centres and religious schools from becoming hubs for the exploitation of children and spreading of teachings contrary to Islam.
“The government will not hesitate to apply strict enforcement against (institutions) found to be involved in unhealthy practices,” the state Islamic affairs and cultural innovation committee chairman said in a statement.
Fahmi said the Selangor Islamic religious department (Jais) had been given directions and is actively conducting thorough monitoring, inspections and screenings of such operations in Selangor, both registered and unregistered.
Yesterday, Jais director Shahzihan Ahmad said two of the welfare homes raided by police on Wednesday were schools registered with the department.
He said one of the schools in the raid, SR Islam Integrasi Miftahul Hikmah, had been registered with Jais since 2015 and used the department’s curriculum.
He said no irregularities were detected during monitoring conducted at the school on Jan 13 and March 23, 2023, and July 23, 2024.
The other school, Maahad Tahfiz Wal Ulum Al-Ghazaly, follows its own tahfiz curriculum and was registered with Jais in 2014.
Fahmi also said Jais has formed a task force to investigate allegations regarding religious schools and tahfiz centres involved in spreading deviant teachings.
His statement today follows the current police investigation into Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH) after police raided 20 welfare homes and rescued 402 victims of alleged physical and sexual abuse and abandonment.
On Wednesday, Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain said some of the 402 victims were sodomised and taught to sexually assault others.
He said police have so far identified 13 children who were allegedly sodomised. Four men are being probed regarding these allegations and are currently being investigated under Section 14 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act for physical and sexual assault on children.
“A total of 171 suspects were initially arrested during the raids, but we remanded 159 while the remaining individuals were released as they are underage or not relevant to further investigations.”
A total of 49 of the rescued children, under the age of five, have been transferred to three shelters in Bukit Beruntung, Cheras and Seremban.
GISBH has since denied that it operates the welfare homes raided by the authorities, as well as the claim that children under its care were sodomised and forced to sexually assault others.