PUTRAJAYA: Children rescued from homes run by Global Ikhwan Service and Business Holdings Sdn Bhd (GISB) can be placed under the custody of the Social Welfare Department (JKM) until they are 18 years old.
Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said the children are currently under a two-month custody of the department.
However, in order to protect them until they are 18 years old, the department will have to get a court order, either by renewal of the two-month temporary custody or a three-year permanent custody, according to Section 30 of the Child Act 2001, read together with Section 25(2)(a) of the Act.
“If the issue is settled, we must release them after two months. However, if we have to keep them for certain reasons, usually legal reasons, we will request for extension through a court order,” she said.
As of Monday, 560 children – 283 boys and 277 girls – were placed in safe custody, after JKM obtained the temporary custody court order.
Under the Child Act, when a child is considered in need of care and protection by a social welfare or police officer, and/or needs medical attention, the court is empowered to make an order for custody.
Upon reaching 18 years old, the child will no longer fall under the purview of the Child Act.
Nancy also said there have been sightings of people lurking near safehouses where the rescued children stayed.
“We don’t know if these people are the parents and what threat they pose,” she said, adding that guards are stationed at the safehouses.
Parental visitation, she said, is not allowed yet as the ministry needs to ensure the safety of the children at the safehouses.
“If we allow visitation, this will open the floodgates, where people who are not the parents will also come,” she told reporters during a ministry event on improving state welfare aid.
Nancy also responded to allegations by Masjid Tanah MP Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday that some of the children taken into custody were not from GISB-linked centres, but from unrelated rented homes, boarding schools and tahfiz.
“I have already responded (the same day), but she was not at Dewan Rakyat then. Most of these claims are from social media,” she added.
Nancy said JKM was only involved when concerning children while the police operated in other places suspected to be linked to GISB.
In urging the public not to believe what they see on social media, she stressed that the ministry would not unnecessarily separate children from parents.
She cited a case where a child was promptly returned to a tenant who was not associated with GISB.
“When the child comes under the ministry’s protection, it is by order of the courts, and we cannot release them as per our wishes, we must have a court order.
“We want to reunite parents with their children. There are many children affected, and it is also a challenge for us to care for them,” she said.
Nancy added that if the parents were identified, the ministry would return the child, but in accordance to the law.
There were, however, some cases where the child lived in one place while those claiming to be parents lived at another house.
“Some children also don’t know who their parents are. That is why we cannot do this haphazardly,” she said.
On the discrepancy of the number of people under custody, Nancy clarified that there were 560 children with two of them accompanied by their mothers.
“This is proof that we don’t want to separate mother and child,” she said.
Separately, Nancy said reforms have been made to streamline the system for state welfare aid to 11 states.
The strategic collaboration between the federal and state governments, she said, have integrated the two systems – eBantuanJKM and iSPEKS (State Government Accrual Accounting System).
“With the new system, everything will run more smoothly. Last year, there were cases where some didn’t receive their aid,” she said, adding that Sabah, Sarawak and the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Labuan were not included in the new system yet.
