GISB: unmasking the shadowy sect behind Malaysia’s worst child sex abuse scandal

The GISB scandal reveals a harrowing tale of exploitation, as former members recount a legacy of abuse hidden behind a facade of faith

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Global Ikhwan Services and Business (GISB) headquarters in Rawang, Malaysia. Photo: Reuters

Hadi Azmi,Joseph SipalanandAidan Jones

Published: 8:00am, 28 Sep 2024Updated: 12:52pm, 29 Sep 2024

Celebration Mall had stood empty for years until new owners with grand ambitions swept in 24 years ago.

Soon, the derelict shopping centre – nestled in the Bandar Country Homes neighbourhood of Rawang, Malaysia – was reborn into a bustling business hub replete with restaurants, shops, a bakery and even a maternity clinic.

The transformation breathed new life into an area that had been losing its lustre in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. A sense of community returned. Families did too. Some sent their children for horse riding lessons at the mall’s new stables.

At the heart of this remarkable turnaround was Global Ikhwan Services and Business (GISB), a conglomerate with business interests spanning everything from farms to fast food.

But beneath the bright facade lurked a dark reality: GISB was not what it seemed, and now finds itself at the centre of Malaysia’s worst-ever child sex abuse scandal.

Children pictured at a GISB event. More than 500 children have been rescued from care homes in Malaysia linked to the group. Photo: Facebook/GISB

Many of the fresh faces that had appeared around Celebration Mall, it turns out, were former members of the banned Islamic sect Al-Arqam – dismantled by the authorities in 1994 for promoting a “deviant form” of Islam in this predominantly orthodox Sunni nation.