Siti Kasim Rampant Torture Cases Tragic Death At Boarding Religious Schools Not Reflective Of Islam

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AS the entire Malaysia rallies for justice over the death of Form One religious school pupil Zara Qairina Mahathir, human rights activist and lawyer Siti Kasim is dumfounded as to why bullying and physical torture of se*ual nature has become a trend synonymous with boarding religious schools in Malaysia.
This is more so as Islam is deemed a great exponent of peace, brotherhood, tolerance, independence, harmony and common well-being.
“I’m very bewildered myself how the incident could have occurred in a religious school when pupils should have been taught virtuous values as opposed to indecency such as bullying,” she hit out in her latest YouTube video.





















“We’ve other government boarding schools such as the MARA junior colleges but we rarely hear of bullying cases to this extent.
“The Education Ministry (MOE) has to get to the roots of the problem, chiefly the way if teaching which I’ve stressed time and again.”
To re-cap, Zara’s body was found on the ground floor of her religious school dormitory (SMKA Tun Datu Mustapha) in Papar, Sabah on July 16 whereby she was pronounced dead the next day at Queen Elizabeth I Hospital in Kota Kinabalu.
On Friday (Aug 8) evening, thousands of people in the Sabah East coast towns of Sandakan and Tawau held rallies demanding Justice for Zara.

The right to speculation
Siti Kasim further took a jibe at the authorities over the fact that no post-mortem was conducted despite various suspicions surrounding Zara’s death which eventually led to huge public outcry and call for the 13-year-old’s body to be exhumed for a proper post-mortem.
“I also don’t understand why the Education Ministry (MOE) has to lodge police reports when it should have reflected and answer the questions raised by the public constructively, particularly following a video of Zara herself chaining to be harassed by some senior pupils.”
On Thursday (Aug 7) the MOE lodged 10 police reports against the circulation of videos and posts related to Zara’s death in Putrajaya upon advice from its legal division.
Similar reports were also lodged in Sabah by teachers and parents of the school’s pupils whose names, photos and identities were shared, hence linking them to the case.
Echoing a similar sentiment, former de facto law minister Datuk Zaid defended the speculation into Zara’s death as calls for Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek and Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail to resign vibrated across various social media platforms.
‘From day one, the police failed the basics: (i) No post-mortem; (ii) No CCTV evidence; (iii) No clear timeline,” the opposition-slant UMNO member penned on X.
Fahmi Fazil and the Ministers tell us “don’t speculate” about Zara Qairina’s death; but they left us no choice. From day one, the police failed the basics:
• No post-mortem
• No CCTV evidence
• No clear timeline
Now we hear whispers that some of Zara’s…
— Zaid Ibrahim (@zaidibrahim) August 9, 2025

“Now we hear whispers that some of Zara’s schoolmates, ie children of VVIPs might have bullied her. And in Malaysia, we all know the ugly truth: when VVIPs are involved, the rules change. Justice bends. Cases fade. Families are silenced.”
In Zaid’s contention, Malaysians at large have every right to demand answers – “loudly, publicly and without apology”.
“It took two weeks and massive public pressure before the AGC (Attorney-General’s Chambers) ordered what should have been done immediately (exhume Zara’s body for a post-mortem).
“Justice for Zara is justice for every ordinary Malaysian. Will the police examine itself for this massive slip up? Or will it probably be allowed to continue business as usual?”
Meanwhile, the Sekretariat Solidariti Zara will be submitting a memorandum to the Parliament on Tuesday (Aug 12) to call for a reform of the police and education systems with participants to gather at Taman Tugu in Persiaran Sultan Salahuddin at 10am prior to a march to the Parliament house.

- focus malaysia

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