KLANG: A police report has been lodged against a non-governmental organisation’s director and executive director for the alleged abuse of a youth.
Kelana Jaya PKR division secretary Murali Subramaniam lodged the report against MySkills Foundation director S. Pasupathi and executive director S. Selvamalar at the South Klang district police headquarters on Thursday.
According to Murali, he lodged the report after receiving a video via WhatsApp showing the boy being slapped by Selvamalar.
He then posted the video clip on his Facebook page. The video has since gone viral.
“The boy is mentally disabled and he should not have been treated that way,’’ said Murali.
In the 45 second video Selvamalar is seen speaking to the youth before removing his spectacles and slapping him twice and continuing to speak with him.
A screengrab of the viral video.
The boy’s father M. Subramaniam, 50, said he had full knowledge of the incident and supported Selvamalar’s actions.
“My son had done something very wrong and he had to be disciplined.
“I am very upset that my son is the cause of the organisation’s good name being mired in controversy and criticism,” said Subramaniam via telephone from his home in Sg Petani.
Subramaniam said his son, who is a slow-learner, had shown a lot of improvement over the last year, since he started his baking training programme at MySkills Foundation’s training centre in Klang.
“He is now able to bake and will be graduating in March. This is a big achievement for him and us,” added Subramaniam, who urged people not use the incident involving his son to attack the NGO.
Meanwhile, Selvamalar said she had had to punish the youth because he had assaulted a girl in the class.
She added it was not the first time he had done so.
“There were 20 others in the room when I questioned him about the allegation.
“He refused to say anything and that is why I had to punish him and he immediately gave me his side of the story,” said Selvamalar.
She said she had not slapped the boy in anger but that the action was meant to make the youth answer to the allegations.
“That is why I removed his spectacles and placed them on the table before slapping him and telling him to speak-up,” said Selvamalar.
She added it was crucial to ensure the youth did not resort to assaulting others because the training programme was about equipping the trainees with skills before assimilating them into mainstream society.
Selvamalar said the boy was still at the training centre and is being prepared for employment as a baker in the food and beverage industry.
