Ministry to visit welfare home after pictures of deplorable conditions surface online

PETALING JAYA: The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry will investigate the welfare home for disabled children in Batu Gajah, tomorrow morning after pictures of its residents living in squalid conditions surfaced on social media recently.
Its deputy minister, Senator Datin Chew Mei Fun told theSun that she will personally go to the Rumah Kebajikan Kanak-Kanak Cacat to visit 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 as well before I can comment further," she said when contacted, today.
Her comments came after pictures of the disabled children living in small kennel-like spaces surfaced on social media.
The pictures which were contributed by a visitor to the home shows that the more than one child occupying a tiny space without a bed, drinking water or proper lighting.
The visitor in her posting on a viral website also described the place as smelly, with the heavy odour of clorox, urine and faeces permeating throughout the home.
Only a common shower head and toilet were close to the where the children are being kept.
She alleged that the home was divided into two parts, one for disabled women which was well maintained and taken care of while the other part where the pictures were taken are for the disabled children.
Meanwhile, chairman of the home, R. Sivalingam was reported 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, some of whom had serious mental problems and became aggressive to an extent of injuring the others in the home.
"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 true reasons and regarded it as torture. They should have first understood why we did what we did," he added.