In a major police operation called Ops Global on the 11 September, the PDRM conducted several raids on the premises and children’s homes of Global Ikhwan Service and Business Holding (GISB) in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan.

The police managed to rescue 402 children and teenagers whose ages ranged from seven months to 17 years.

They also rounded up 171 suspects aged between 17 and 64, and this included the ustaz who ran the premises.

Ten days later, a further 186 victims, including children and women, were rescued, and another 155 suspects were detained.

What is perplexing is that two days after the reported first batch of victims to be rescued, on 13 September, Perlis mufti Dr Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin said issues related to GISBH had been presented to JAKIM at a much earlier date, but JAKIM had failed to take action.

He said the issue was a serious matter because the teachings and beliefs promoted by the group contain elements of deviant teachings.

He too had been bewildered by JAKIM’s lack of action.

Among the reasons he cited were the possibility that JAKIM was reluctant to take risks, or that they felt it was not such a serious issue.

In a recording on his channel, Dr Asri alleged their reluctance to act, “…because there is interference from higher up, especially in enforcement and security…”

This is extremely worrying. Was JAKIM’s failure to investigate because of orders from either the Ministry of Home Affairs or the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO)?

Aren’t these entities in government responsible for the enforcement and security of the nation?

From the intelligence, and the evidence recorded by the police, GISBH’s modus operandi is alleged to be as follows.

1. The victims are sodomised by their guardians, taught to sodomise one another, and the victims subsequently forced to watch other children being sodomised.

2. GISBH uses religious sentiments to garner sympathy to collect donations.

3. Children were not allowed to receive medical treatment until they became seriously ill or critical.

4. The wardens in the children’s homes use heated objects to injure victims as punishment for wrongdoing.

5. The victim’s body parts were inappropriately touched by the wardens, supposedly for the purpose of Islamic medicine.

Despite their massive funding, JAKIM failed to protect the welfare of 588 children and women in the GIBH scandal.

JAKIM is a federal religious agency under the Prime Minister’s Department whose job it is to manage Islamic affairs in the country.

Although the GISBH case shocked the nation and tarnished our reputation in the eyes of the world, the president of the Religious Services Personnel Association (PKPU) from JAKIM, Mohd Ajib Ismail, was quick to defend JAKIM.

He said that JAKIM is not a law enforcement agency, and the GISB case is not under JAKIM’s jurisdiction.

Why was he the one to defend JAKIM’s actions? Why was its director-general Hakimah Mohd Yusoff silent?

If as Ajib claims that JAKIM is not an enforcement agency, what are the duties and responsibilities of JAKIM officers?

If JAKIM has no jurisdiction or enforcement powers, why did JAKIM fail to advise the police?

Ever since JAKIM’s formation, it has received billions of ringgit in funding, and its budget allocation is RM2 billion every year.

If JAKIM is purported to have no authority to investigate, why was its presence heavily detected in the Allah socks (KK Mart) and shoes scandal, in the ‘Merry Christmas’ icing of Christmas cakes brouhaha, in khalwat, LGBT and close proximity cases?

Does JAKIM cherry-pick its enforcement powers?

Despite receiving billions in ringgit, JAKIM was unable to protect 588 children and women from sexual abuse, from being sodomised, from being made modern-day slaves, working without pay, and being denied doctor’s visits.

Why doesn’t the government simply dissolve JAKIM?

Over the years, the public have been reading about many issues with Muslim-run organisations failing in one way or another.

These range from scandals in Tabung Haji, the scandal of halal meat certification, the manner in which zakat money supposed to help the poor is distributed, the corruption in mosques, sexual and physical abuse in religious and tahfiz schools, the quality of ‘standard’ education of some religious schools, the health and safety concerns of these religious-run schools and the lack of enforcement and systemic and regular checks on the performance of the wardens in these schools.

What did JAKIM officials do to resolve the issues? What do their detailed reports tell us? Has anyone in JAKIM been held accountable for their failures?

A few years ago, the Sultan of Johor questioned the role of JAKIM and demanded to know the need for excessive funding borne by taxpayers.

In June last year, PM Anwar Ibrahim met with the leadership of JAKIM in Butterworth. He wanted to upgrade the role of muftis and Islamic scholars in JAKIM to help in the development of national policy.

Doesn’t Anwar realise that JAKIM is part of this country’s problems?

Despite their massive funding, JAKIM failed to protect the welfare of 588 children and women in the GIBH scandal. Their track record is poor.

More importantly, JAKIM should be prevented from dictating Malaysia’s national policies!

Sources:

1. New Straits Times: Johor Sultan orders JAIJ to stop dealing with JAKIM
2. Malaysiakini: Asri claims Jakim briefed about GISBH but took no action
3. YouTube: Perlis mufti claims JAKIM was briefed about GISBH
4. Malaysiakini: Our suppliers have halal certification: Johnny’s, Black Canyon
5. Malaysiakini: JAKIM mulls mandating halal cert for eateries not serving pork, alcohol
6. Malaysiakini: ‘Mandatory’ halal cert, MP warns risk added burden to businesses
7. Malaysiakini: Wan Fayhsal threatens police report over Teresa’s halal cert remarks
8. Malaysiakini: Umno Youth chief swipes at ‘old Nyonya’ Teresa over halal cert
9. Malaysiakini: Anwar: Seputeh MP’s view on halal cert not Harapan stance
10. Malaysiakini: Zaid offers Teresa condolences over probe, DAP’s ‘meek support’
11. Malaysiakini: Halal cert should be optional, say Indian restaurant owners
12. Malaysiakini: Cops raid welfare homes where kids ‘trained to sodomise’, 402 rescued
13. Malaysiakini: Cabinet decides halal certification to remain voluntary
14. Malaysiakini: GISBH CEO, top leaders remanded 7 days
15. Malaysiakini: Zahid: Akmal-Teresa spat over, ‘dah tone down’
16. New Straits Times: JAKIM issues stern warning to shoemaker Vern’s

(Mariam Mokhtar is a Freelance Writer.)