Jakim stop tok-kok & be constructive

It's quite worrying when tahfiz schools view safety regulations and measures as liable government efforts to interfere with their running.

DPM Ahmad Zahid revealed this shocking paranoiac mentality among the privately run religious schools and their conscious resistance to government efforts to make them safe.

MM Online also informs us: The incident took place just weeks after the Fire and Rescue Department expressed concern over fire safety standards at tahfiz schools, especially ones that are not registered.

It was previously reported that there are more 600 such unregistered schools nationwide.

The shocking deaths persuaded ... Unicef representative to Malaysia Marianne Clark-Hattingh [to] call the tragedy a “stark reminder” of the need for all schools to have measures in place to prevent and mitigate such incidents.

“Unicef calls for the establishment and enforcement of safety procedures and safeguards in all schools across Malaysia to ensure that such an unfortunate incident does not happen again.

“In addition, a full investigation needs to be conducted as soon as possible to establish the cause of this tragedy.”

A motherhood statement but probably useless as those tahafiz schools with their suspicions about 'City Hall' are not likely to be cooperative.

The recent fire-affected Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz school at Jalan Keramat Ujung did not even have an occupation certificate, let alone compliance with fire and safety standards or occupation certificate.

On top of this scandal Jakim warns of exposing any pictures of the religious school that suffered a fire this morning, on the surface as if to protect-respect the sensitivity of the victims' parents and families, but one wonders what has been its real aim to clam down so swiftly on an already horrendous tragedy, if not its innate desire to operate in secret and out of official secular surveillance.

While it's appreciate pious Muslims in Malaysia want their children to receive religious knowledge, they should at least check on the standard and quality of the tahfiz schools. It's dangerous to place their children in fly-by-night operators, no matter how religious they might/may claim.

Jakim should do something useful instead of always threatening and warning people to shut up on dangerous issues affecting Muslim schools or chasing after silly issues like the appellation of 'hot-dogs'.

Instead Jakim should with the cooperation of the Jabatan2 Agama Negeri2 (JAN) compile a listing of quality (safe) and recommended tahfiz schools throughout Malaysia to guide parents. 

Not too long ago, such a tahfiz school experienced another type of tragedy, when one of its students died a terrible death, after having his legs amputated due to brutal beating by an assistance warden. The claim he died due to rat urine poisoning was not well received by many including his family.

Instead of attempting to shut serious critics up, Jakim and all its sister JAN organisations should, nay, MUST now conduct an audit on each school a.s.a.p before another tragedy kills some of our young Malaysian boys again.