We will not hesitate to revoke permits, warns S’gor administration for tahfiz centers and religious schools

Selangor Executive Councillor Fahmi Ngah said the Selangor Islamic Religious Department is actively conducting thorough monitoring, inspections and screenings of tahfiz centres and religious schools. (Facebook photo)

PETALING JAYA: The Selangor government will not hesitate to revoke operating licences and take action against any tahfiz centres or religious schools involved in exploitative practices, says state assemblyman Fahmi Ngah.

“The state government is determined to prevent tahfiz centres and religious schools from becoming centres for child exploitation and dissemination of teachings that are anti-Islamic.

“The government will not hesitate to take strict enforcement action against (institutions) found to be involved in unhealthy practices,” the chairman of the State Commission for Islamic Affairs and Cultural Innovation said in a statement.

Fahmi said the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) has been instructed and is actively conducting thorough checks, inspections and screenings of such operations in Selangor, both registered and unregistered.

Yesterday, Jais director Shahzihan Ahmad said two of the nursing homes raided by police on Wednesday were schools registered with the department.

He said one of the schools involved in the raid, SR Islam Integrasi Miftahul Hikmah, had been registered with the Jais since 2015 and used the department’s curriculum.

He said no irregularities were found during the inspections carried out at the school on January 13, March 23, 2023 and July 23.

The other school, Maahad Tahfiz Wal Ulum Al-Ghazaly, follows its own tahfiz curriculum and was registered with Jais in 2014.

Fahmi’s statement today follows the ongoing police investigation into Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH), which saw police raid 20 care homes and rescue 402 victims of alleged physical and sexual abuse and abandonment.

On Wednesday, police inspector Razarudin Husain said some of the 402 persons had been sodomised and taught to attack others.

He said that so far, police have identified 13 children who were allegedly sodomized. Four men are being investigated on these allegations and are currently being investigated under Section 14 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act for physical and sexual abuse of children.

“A total of 171 suspects were initially arrested during the raids, but we have taken 159 into custody, while the remaining individuals have been released because they are minors or not relevant to further investigation.”

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 runs the nursing homes raided by authorities, and has alleged that children in its care were sodomized and forced to sexually assault others.