The Malaysian Insight

FORMER prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad expressed his grief over the death of 23 people in the fire at a tahfiz school in Kuala Lumpur as it reminded him of similar incident at Kedah religious school in 1989.

Dr Mahathir, who is now chairman of the opposition Pakatan Harapan coalition, arrived at Kuala Lumpur Hospital about 7.30pm to visit victims’ families and survivors. 

“I’m sad that this kind of incident happened again, like the one in Kedah,” he told reporters here today.

Dr Mahathir was referring to the fire at Taufiqiah Al-Khairiah Madrasa, also known as “Pondok Pak Ya”, in Guar Chempedak, Kedah, which killed 27 female students on September 22, 1989. 

“Safety measures are very important. I hope after this, all schools will review if there are emergency exits at their schools if such incidents happen,” he said, expressing his condolences to the victims’ families. 

Today’s fire at Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah in Kampung Datuk Keramat claimed 23 lives, 21 students and two wardens. 

Other leaders who came to HKL to visit the families were Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, ministers Dr S. Subramaniam, Liow Tiong Lai and Jamil Khir Baharom. – September 14, 2017.