Sunday July 5, 2009
A govt-run shelter for the disabled has, instead, become their jail
By YUEN MEIKENG and ZALINAH NOORDIN
KUALA KUBU BARU: About 30 men, naked, some chained up, caged and covered in their faeces and urine – that is the scene inside locked rooms at the Taman Sinar Harapan home here.
Following a public tip-off via an email from London, The Star’s probe team went undercover to the government-run shelter that is tucked away behind the Kuala Kubu Baru Hospital and next to a golf course.
The home has about 200 residents comprising men, women and children, some of whom are mentally disabled and infirmed. What goes on within the four walls is shocking, and visits to individual rooms reveal even more horror – residents, young and old, naked and confined in cages.
Caged life: An inmate crawling on the floor, hardly aware of his naked existence at the Taman Sinar Harapan home in Kuala Kubu Baru. — SAM THAM / The Star Related Stories:
‘Ray of hope’ that turned out to be a nightmare
Experts slam caregivers for chaining mental patients to their beds
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