PUTRAJAYA: A coalition representing 'tahfiz' schools in Malaysia has urged the public to wait for the outcome of police investigation into an alleged abuse at a Kota Tinggi religious school which resulted in a boy losing his legs, instead of putting the blame on the learning institution.
Gabungan Persatuan Institusi Tahfiz Al-Quran Kebangsaan (Pinta) president Mohd Zahid Mahmood Al-Hafiz said he had visited the 'tahfiz' school in question and viewed the close-circuit television camera footage to learn more about the incident.
"We have viewed the footage and found the student was only hit on one of the legs. At this point, we believe there is probably a high chance that other factors could have led to the boy's deteriorating condition.
"There is no need to point fingers on anybody just yet. What we are seeing in the past few days is that the public being too quick to place blame on the school and its teachers.
"It is not right to label all religious schools to be abusive towards their students," he said when met at Seri Perdana today.
Zahid hoped that the public will allow the authorities to carry out a thorough investigation into the case before coming to any conclusion.
He was referring to a case where an 11-year-old pupil from a private religious school in Kota Tinggi here has had both of his legs amputated after he was allegedly beaten with a water hose by an assistant warden.
The boy's mother Felda Wani Ahmad, 40, claimed that her son Mohamad Thaqif Amin Mohd Gadaffi was beaten several times on both of his legs during incidents that happened in March.
The assistant hostel warden of the school has remanded for four days to facilitate investigations
The suspect was detained at his house in Felda Lok Heng Barat on Saturday.