Malaysia’s Best-Kept Secret: The Cult-Like Organization Behind a Global Food Empire
For decades, Global Ikhwan Services and Business Holdings (GISBH) was Malaysia’s best-kept secret. The company, which claimed to be an Islamic organization, ran a sprawling conglomerate with restaurants, factories, and resorts worldwide. But behind the façade of a successful business, GISBH was allegedly running a cult-like organization that forced followers to work and have many children, some conceived through rape, to populate orphanages and raise donations that funded the lavish lifestyles of its leaders.
In September, Malaysian police raided two dozen homes run by the company, rescuing over 600 children and detaining hundreds of people, charging some with crimes including child trafficking, sexual abuse, and organized crime. The group’s leaders, including CEO Nasiruddin Mohd Ali, have been charged with belonging to an organized crime group and are awaiting trial.
Former members of GISBH have come forward to share their harrowing stories of abuse and exploitation. They describe a life of forced labor, with workers toiling for 16-hour shifts in factories and restaurants, and children as young as 10 being forced to work in factories. The company’s leaders would often take breaks to indulge in lavish spending, including jetting around the world to attend sporting events and meeting with high-ranking government officials.
The group’s practices were shrouded in secrecy, with followers cut off from the outside world and only receiving information through an in-house television channel that promoted the teachings of Al Arqam, an Islamic cult banned by the Malaysian government in the 1990s. The group’s leaders would often use “holy water” made from their own saliva, body hair, and bathwater to bless products sold to the public, including food and condiments.
The company’s overseas assets were used to build relationships with government officials and gain influence, with the group’s leaders meeting with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim at his private office in April 2023. Despite the allegations of abuse and exploitation, GISBH’s connections reached the highest levels of Malaysia’s elites, with the group’s leaders attending sporting events and meeting with government officials.
The future is uncertain for the adults who grew up inside the group, with many having few life skills to fall back on and multiple wives and children to support. The children who were rescued from the group are being reintegrated into mainstream society, with many still struggling to adjust to life outside the cult. The years of indoctrination will take time to undo, but authorities are working to reeducate the children and reintegrate them into society.
