‘Don’t speculate about student’s death’

KOTA BARU: The people are advised to refrain from passing judgment on the tragic death of tahfiz pupil Moha­mad Thaqif Amin Mohd Gaddafi, says Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.

He said there were now many versions and depictions of the incident which had gone viral on social media that were untrue.

Mohamad Thaqif, 11, died on Wednesday after his legs were amputated last week due to an infection caused by alleged abuse at a religious school in Johor.

Dr Asyraf Wajdi also met the victim’s family members during a post-mortem that lasted six hours on Wednesday. He noted that the incident had unfairly tarnished the image of tahfiz and pondok schools.

In Petaling Jaya, Suhakam chairman Tan Sri Razali Ismail called for background checks be made compulsory for those seeking employment in jobs involving children.

“We find it unbelievable that there are no legal procedures or a child protection policy for all schools to check on potential staff before they are allowed to work with children.

“This is in line with the spirit of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Child Act 2001 for all children to have their best interests taken as a primary consi­deration in all actions or decisions that concern them, both in the public and private spheres,” he said in a statement.

Social activist Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir said in her Facebook page that people have a responsibility to protect children and not to release them to teachers and guardians who do not deserve to be even near them.

Former minister Tan Sri Zainud­din Maidin said all privately-run religious schools should either be suspended or shut down in the wake of Mohamad Thaqif’s death.

He wrote in his blog that there were cases of corporal punishment imposed on pupils without supervision from the state authorities.