Disabled kids ‘kept in cages’
> Chew to visit welfare home after pictures of children in cramped spaces surface online
PETALING JAYA: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will investigate a welfare home for disabled children in Batu Gajah today after pictures of them living in squalid conditions surfaced on social media recently.
Deputy Minister Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun told theSun she will visit the Rumah Kebajikan Kanak-Kanak Cacat to see the children.
“An investigation report is already being prepared by the Welfare Department.
“I will need time to go through it and visit the place before commenting further,” she said.
The pictures, which were contributed by a visitor to the home, showed that more than one child occupied a tiny space which did not have a bed, drinking water or proper lighting.
The visitor, in her posting on social media, also described the place as smelly, reeking of bleach and excrement.
A common shower head and a toilet were near where the children were being kept.
She claimed that the home was divided into two sections, one for disabled women which was well maintained and taken care of, while the other section was where the disabled children were kept.
The children were also reportedly kept in cage-like structures.
Meanwhile, home chairman R. Sivalingam was reported as saying that the home was forced to resort to such actions for the safety of the children.
He said they had to separate the children as some of them had serious mental problems and were aggressive to an extent of injuring the others.
“Yes, we do separate them but there are no elements of torture or anything as alleged, but mainly to ensure their safety. The person who made the pictures viral probably did not understand the reasons and regarded it as torture,” he added. SEE ALSO