"Where Is The Money?" - Mothers Of Victims Ask Tahfiz School About RM1 Million Donation
It was reported about a week ago that the school has received RM1 million in donations following the tragic incident.
By Nandini Balakrishnan — 02 Oct 2017, 01:04 PM
In an exclusive report by Free Malaysia Today (FMT), a few mothers of the Datuk Keramat tahfiz fire victims have revealed that they've yet to receive their share of the donations for the tragic incident
The headmaster of Darul Quran Ittifaqyah (DQI) tahfiz school, Muhammad Zahid Mahmood
Image via Shamsul Abd Ghani/Sinar HarianWhen speaking to FMT anonymously, the mothers claimed that they were told by the headmaster of Darul Quran Ittifaqyah (DQI) tahfiz school, Muhammad Zahid Mahmood, that families of the deceased and injured were supposed to receive 70% of the donations received, while the school will take the remaining 30%.
The families were informed about this decision during a meeting on 22 September.
However, a day after the meeting, the school changed the decision and told the parents that the school would be keeping 70% of the donation and only give 30% of it to the families of the victims
21 students and two teachers died in the early morning fire at the tahfiz school.
Image via The Malaysian Insight"But we haven’t received a single sen," one of the mothers said, adding that she's frustrated that the headmaster didn't even turn up for a meeting they (the school) were supposed to have with the families last Saturday, 30 September. He has instead sent a representative to attend the meeting.
"Apparently he said he couldn't make it because he had to meet with the fire department. What's he doing meeting with the fire department at night?" she asked.
Meanwhile, another mother that spoke to FMT accused the school of keeping the money donated by politicians to its students in the past
"These people would give our children money, but the school would let our children have only the small change and hold on to the bigger amounts for safe keeping, or so we're told," she explained. These donations are said to be from visits during Hari Raya and other festivities.
"Now that our children are gone, where is the money?"
The headmaster of Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah tahfiz school (centre) receiving a donation from Titiwangsa UMNO Youth chief Nazir Hussin Akhtar Hussin (second from right).
Image via Hafiz Sohaimi/Berita HarianAbout a week ago, Zahid told The Star that the school had collected RM1 million in donations following the tragedy and the money will be distributed to the families soon, as reported by The Malaysian Insight.
"Maybe the parents thought that we didn't care. We don't blame the parents who think that we would abandon them after receiving such a big amount of contributions.
"We are fine. We are transparent and will help the families of the victims the best we can," said Zahid, as reported by The Malaysian Insight.
Another mother of one of the victims complained that the school didn't inform the families about the fire immediately
The fire at Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah broke out at around 5.15am on 14 September.
Image via Berita HarianIt was one of the mothers who sent out a WhatsApp message at about 6am informing the families about the tragedy.
"The headmaster is in that WhatsApp group as well," she added.
It was also reported that another parent said that the school informed the families that they would stop collecting donations for the tragedy on 1 October, but she claimed that she saw someone standing outside the school's management building with the donation box.
"I wish you could somehow get the word across to generous people that if they want to donate money or anything else to the parents to give it directly to them because many of them really need that help," she told FMT.