Former minister Zaid Ibrahim says no one will answer for tahfiz school tragedy as long as current government is in place.
PETALING JAYA: Zaid Ibrahim has continued his criticism of the attitude of many Malaysians, from the authorities, to political and religious leaders as well as the public over the terrible loss of lives in the tahfiz school fire last week.
Calling for a change in government, Zaid said that was the only way to effect a change in attitude and properly regulate “this community”.
“We have countless problems in our daily lives but the people are more interested in superficial religious matters and protecting religious institutions from scrutiny and supervision.
“Our people have little interest in properly regulating this community to make this life better because we can always resort to public prayers if we have serious tragedy along the way,” he said, alluding to Muslims and the management of Islamic matters.
The former minister said it was the authorities’ “tidak apa” attitude, a Malay term to describe apathy, that had allowed the tragedy resulting in the deaths of 21 children and two teachers in the fire at Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz school last Thursday, to happen.
He compared the response and attitude with that which followed the Grenfell Tower fire in London a few months ago.
“In London, everyone is looking forward to an upcoming public inquiry, to be headed by a High Court judge, into the cause of the fire that killed more than 88 residents of Grenfell Tower a few months ago,” he said.
Zaid added that in the UK, the people were taking every measure through the inquiry as well as pressure on local government to ensure that such a tragedy was not repeated.
“What a huge difference in attitude we see here in the wake of the tahfiz school fire.
“In the beginning, all we heard was talk of how it was God’s will, and of how the students died as martyrs in the service of Allah.
“Even a federal minister was talking rubbish from the start when he cautioned authorities not to blame the school operator, as they had suffered enough,” Zaid said.
He was referring to Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Minister Noh Omar, who was the first minister on the scene of the tragedy last week and who was quoted as saying that “no action would be taken against the school as it had suffered enough”.
Zaid also recalled the “numerous fires, fatalities and strange accidents” in religious schools in the past where no action was taken thereafter.
“The only results we have seen are some recommendations from the authorities. Everything is forgotten soon after that.
“No one ever takes responsibility and there has never been any pressing demand for accountability, even though we have seen time and again the same reckless negligence and disregard for the lives of our children,” he said, adding that it was all because according to them “everything happens according to God’s will”.
“I do not consider this attitude to reflect religious belief or understanding, but a deep-seated callousness towards the welfare of others. It’s a mark of a very self-centred and selfish community.”
Zaid blamed the education system, and particularly that in religious schools, for the lack of urgency to look for worldly causes when tragedy struck.
“We are a product of what we are taught every day. If life lessons are being taught by the usual group of religious teachers, then they will teach you about fatalism.
It’s about how things are preordained and destined to happen, regardless of what we do.
“Every word about God is a reminder to follow His commands or you will go to hell,” Zaid said, adding that was why there was no pressing need to find out who was responsible for building a school without proper fire safety measures.
Zaid also speculated on what might happen next following the tahfiz school tragedy.
“Soon the prime minister will start giving some money to the affected families, and to the school operator to start a new school.
“We will talk about new measures to be implemented, but the local authorities will not actually implement them because there’s really no one to make sure that they will do so,” he said.
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