By Selangor Journal Team
SHAH ALAM, Sept 13 — The Selangor government will not hesitate to revoke the operating licences of and take stern action against any tahfiz centres or religious schools found to be exploiting children or the Islamic religion.
State executive councillor for Islam and innovation Dr Fahmi Ngah said the state is committed to ensuring these institutions are safe from child exploitation or the spread of deviant teachings.
This comes after the authorities raided 20 children’s homes in Selangor and Negeri Sembilan on Wednesday (September 11), rescuing 402 occupants and arresting 171 individuals for alleged child and religious exploitation.
“I would like to stress that the Selangor government remains responsible for safeguarding the purity of Islam from harmful and deviant elements that could endanger the Muslim community… and ensure children’s safety.
“The Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) has been instructed and is currently conducting close monitoring, inspections and screenings of both registered and unregistered tahfiz centres and religious schools in Selangor,” he said in a statement today.
Fahmi, who is a member of the Selangor Islamic Religious Council, urged members of the public with information regarding religious schools or tahfiz centres involved in wrongful practices to report directly to Jais via its hotline at 1800-88-2424.
He added that a special investigation team chaired by Jais director Datuk Mohd Shahzihan Ahmad has been established and is actively conducting investigations.
Earlier today, it was reported that 13 children at the shelter homes that were raided by the police under Op Global were suspected to have been sodomised, based on the medical screening carried out on them.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said the police have opened four investigation papers against four men for an offence under Section 14 of the Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017.
Regarding the 402 rescued occupants of the shelter homes, he said health screening had been conducted on 392 of them, with the remaining 10 victims being disabled persons and autistic, who are below the age of 18.
The 10 victims, together with 49 children below the age of five years, have been handed over to the Social Welfare Department to be temporarily housed at its shelter homes in Bukit Beruntung, Cheras, and Seremban.
