KUALA LUMPUR: Teen, Aslikh Syani, found it hard to believe that so many lives perished in the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz school ablaze.
The 17-year-old’s Maahad Tahfiz Jamiul Hasanah in Tanjung Karang was also burnt down two years ago.
"It happened to us two years ago, our entire school was burnt down but no lives taken.
"Even with no lives involved, what we saw (school burning) still haunts us till today.
"I could immediately picture the fire at our school then. Everything was playing vividly in our minds that morning upon receiving the news," he said.
Aslikh said students at his school "escaped" the fire because they were out for dinner.
"When we received news that there was a fire at our school, we didn't believe that it was on fire until we saw it for ourselves.
"When we arrived at the scene that night, my legs turned wobbly (kaki lembik).
"Our first thought was that, we felt a great losss because we felt like something that belonged to us was burnt down - it's gone," he said.
He added that some of them lost their savings from their pocket money, but nothing compared to what happened here at Kampung Datuk Keramat.
"Even though we don't know them, we can't bring ourselves to believe that so many of them had perished in the fire," said Aslikh.
Asked if discipline problems such as this was common among students in his tahfiz school, Aslikh said it is not the same where they are.
"We don't have as much access to entertainment as what they have in the city.
"The worst discipline problems that could occur are cases like bullying or just 'stealing' a fellow student's belongings. It has never crossed our mind to orchestrate something like that," he said.
Warden and management staff Ahmad Baihaquie, 22 said discipline problems exist in all schools but it is the external influences that could have shaped the mindset of the students involved in setting the fire.
"In the city there is access to all kinds of social activities but in the village, students go to bed by 10pm.
"At the same time, I am very hands on with the students.
"That is something I try to do to ensure that they don't get caught up in these unhealthy activities," he said.
However, Ahmad said the seven student suspects could have discipline problems due to family background - it is common.
"There are many factors to what influenced their actions.
"We have a student who is from Kuala Lumpur, he is slightly different from the rest. I would say that the city plays a role in influencing a person's mindset and behaviour," he said.
Ahmad felt moved by the public who visited the Tanjung Karang tahfiz school when it burnt down and had brought several students to similarly visit the Datuk Keramat tahfiz school and also the Muslim burial ground where the 11 victims are buried.
The fire back in 2015 destroyed about 95 per cent of the a two-storey building tahfiz school in Tanjung Karang.
Many had related this incident to the Datuk Keramat tahfiz school tragedy that killed 23 people here last Thursday (Sept 14).