Kids forced to do 500 ear squats, Saifuddin reveals more GISBH horror

PARLIAMENT | Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has revealed that children in Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH) welfare homes were forced to do 500 “ketuk ketampi” (ear squats) as punishment for disciplinary issues.

In defending the use of the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma) 2012 against GISBH officials, the minister detailed the horror and abuses inflicted on the children.

“...I had been saying that when police conduct an investigation, they will discover a lot of new information and that would lead to more arrests and possibly to invoke more laws that are relevant to the case.

“But why are we doing all this? It is to protect the welfare of the children. There cannot be any exploitation of children by making them work at factories or orchards without pay. And because all these things were part of the practical exercise they had to go through.

“They were also subjected to punishments such as ‘ketuk ketampi’, not 100 but 500 times, for mere infractions like not properly queuing when waiting for food,” Saifuddin said in his winding-up speech after MPs debated GISBH issue in the Dewan Rakyat earlier today.

He was responding to criticism that the authorities were acting excessively with regard to this case.

Several MPs who participated in the debate had criticised the Home Ministry and police over their handling of the investigations against GISBH, including for invoking Sosma.

Adding further, Saifuddin said police investigation revealed that many of the 625 children rescued from GISBH foster care facilities did not even know their parents because they had been separated as early as when they were aged one.

Some even had their identities changed when they were moved from one home to another.

So far, the authorities have managed to establish the identities of 597 children. The other 28, Saifuddin said, are still under investigation.

Following the money trail

According to Saifuddin, the authorities have also discovered that GISBH leaders allegedly enforced a minimum sum their members had to contribute every month.

The group’s members were divided into several clusters, he said, and each had to contribute at least RM70,000 a month.

“However, these monies were not channelled into the officially registered GISBH account but the individual accounts of its leaders who sit on the company’s board of directors.

“That is why when police seized assets in the GISBH case, the purchase transactions were all in cash. There was no bank loan.

“So we have to investigate the sources of their money and where they had spent them,” he said.

The minister stressed that police had invoked Sosma in its investigation into GISBH because of the nature of the group’s alleged offences, including human trafficking, which he said is a serious crime.

Law enforcement agencies also needed more time to complete their probe due to the huge number of suspects involved, he said.

'Overkill': Govt MP blasts police for using Sosma, M16 rifles in GISBH case

Malacca govt latest to issue fatwa declaring GISBH deviant

GISBH: Ex-hostel warden charged with sexual assault on teen

Ashaari's daughter denies GISBH practising deviant teachings

GISBH wants to be involved in children's welfare, businesses to continue

GISBH: Cops probe possibility of kids imbued with militancy elements