No compromise on safety

fire safety at buildings to be compromised when to all intents and purposes, this can certainly mean endangering lives rather unnecessarily.

Wan Mohd Nor, who has since retired from service, made the remarks just a day after one of the most tragic and worst fires ever in the nation’s history when 23 people, including 21 Tahfiz or Islamic religious schoolboys aged between 14 and 17 perished in an early morning blaze at their hostel in Keramat in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

“Many premises could not get Bomba certification because the owners were stingy in paying the extra costs to meet the necessary requirements.

“The excuse given is because they cannot afford to comply with the requirements on the design and safety measures to prevent fires as suggested by Bomba. What they don’t realise is that they are endangering the lives of others, which is a bigger loss and cannot be replaced with money,” he said.

By the same token, this is also an admission of the general lax of enforcement and maintenance of private and public utilities and in the case of such religious schools, this state of apathy actually should not be perpetrated in the first place.

What it means is that Bomba should not enforce strict fire safety compliance on one type of building, and at the same time close one eye or both eyes on another category like Tahfiz schools.

There have been quite regular fires at these schools across the country in the past two decades especially, resulting in so many deaths of children whose parents enrolled them there with high hopes that they will become Alhafiz or one who can memorise the Quran.

Had the Bomba been strictly enforcing fire safety compliance on this Keramat school, for instance, many lives could have been saved or the fire could have even been prevented.

Why must there be a double standard when it comes to safety, let alone in school hostels with live-in students?

There might be a perception within authorities in Bomba that it shouldn’t be too strict on such schools – many of which are operating without formal registration – probably due to its religious nature, but this should not be the case. There should not be any exemption at all. Period.

Which brings me to the sordid case at another Tahfiz school where the school principal was detained earlier this week after he was alleged to have sodomised nine schoolboys.

The school at Kepong in Kuala Lumpur was later found to have been operating without legal registration, which led to Federal Territories Minister Khalid Samad’s quick action of closing down the school.

There are people out there who regard the minister’s move as commendable but as usual some have criticised it. One of the critics is Umno vicepresident Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob. I think those who are critical of the move are missing the whole point.

In the first place, religious schools should set a good example, which this one in Kepong did not by flouting the law with impunity when it did not seek to be registered.

What kind of moral example does it want to set or display to its students when it did not even comply with the rule of law?

To me, this is the point behind the minister’s decision and the message that he wants to send and let’s make no mistake about it or let’s not be confused.

I, too, am sure that all parents are in a trauma at this latest incident at such schools, coming just a year after several boys were detained for allegedly setting fire to the Keramat school hostel.

They would certainly have no qualms about relocating their sons to other schools and one that is run legally.

Parents sending their kids to such schools also have a responsibility to verify the status of these establishments and should not hesitate to quit if they are not safe.

With the new Pakatan Harapan government in place, there are high expectations that our new Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin will direct Bomba to strictly enforce fire safety without exception.

Comments: letters@thesundaily.com