Monday, July 6, 2009

The Star Online: Shocking Truth Behind Govt Run Shelter

I felt disgusted with the authorities when I read this news on Sunday A govt-run shelter for the disabled has, instead, become their jail. Some residents were caged up, chained and covered in their faeces and urine.

A govt-run shelter for the disabled has, instead, become their jail

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
Photo from The Star Online


The naked truth: Some of the inmates who were caged up in the home.
Photo from The Star Online


Related stories on The Star Online
5 July 2009
‘Ray of hope’ that turned out to be a nightmare
Experts slam caregivers for chaining mental patients to their beds

6 July 2009
Expose sparks off aid for disabled folk
More frequent checks to prevent a recurrence
Residents clothed and stench almost gone



Freedom, for now: A Taman Sinar Harapan home attendant unchaining one of the residents when the press arrived to take photographs yesterday.
Photo from The Star Online


Freedom, for now: A Taman Sinar Harapan home attendant unchaining one of the residents when the press arrived to take photographs yesterday.

Photo from The Star Online

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