“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”

― Thomas Paine

COMMENT | Let me get this straight. The religious school where 21 children and two adults died was operating illegally and had been warned for safety violations. The manager of the school claimed that he registered his school with the Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP), which apparently unlike the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) did not carry out safety checks.

Two questions – does an Islamic body trump a civil one and does this mean that the owner’s registration with an Islamic body that neither the owner nor the state religious body in question bears any responsibility for the deaths that occurred during their watch? Some folks have even made the excuse that this was apparently a “temporary” facility used because the permanent one was in the process of renovation. Does this excuse make any sense whatsoever?

Keep in mind that Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had said that the federal government, which sticks its snout in everything in this country, has no power to take over the running of these so-called private institutions and passed the ringgit to the state religious authorities which have apparently no enforcement powers either.

The deaths of 21 children and two adults seems an obscene moment to remind Malaysians of the separation of powers between the federal government and state religious authorities. Obscene but predictable. Apparently in Malaysia, the only time there is separation between mosque and federal power is when children die in a fire.

Let us think about this rationally for a moment. The owner did not have permission from DBKL to operate his school. The school was cited for safety violations – which if reading reports from the press – contributed to the deaths of children, and there is still confusion as to who the responsible parties are. Keep in mind I said “parties”.

In fact, what role does the MAIWP have in this? Is there no communication between DBKL and the body responsible for Islamic activities in the Federal Territory? Why didn’t DBKL close down the school, or since this has to do with Islam and since the civil authorities in this country seem to be overridden by Islamic imperatives, warn MAIWP that the school which was registered by them had safety violations?

Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor is worried about being accused of being “unfair” when the safety of children is at stake. Does this make sense to anyone? Does it make sense that you have a religious school in violation of civil law and the owner of that school gets away with ignoring the warnings of a municipal authority and claims he registered his school with a religious body, which apparently did not know that the school they registered was in violation of safety procedures?

Tengku Adnan made sure to inform us that checks would be made “at all tahfiz centres in the city centre and Putrajaya”, but what would they achieve? It is apparent that the authorities for whatever reason have no power to shut these schools deemed health hazards, so in other words, all these “safety” checks are mere theatre.

Tengku Adnan also “lauded” the tahfiz management “for offering free religious education to poor families” but this is all bull manure...