Um U Grad S Fatal Fall Caps A Tragic Month For Malaysia S Education Sector Marred By School Murder Rape

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AS Ahmad Arif Zawir Mohd Ali was laid to rest in his Masai, Johor hometown, nobody knows for sure how he had fallen from the third floor of his Universiti Malaya (UM) residential college as the answer is beyond the police’s “sudden death” a.k.a. no criminal element present classification.
This has inevitably led to speculation among netizens that the 22-year-old fourth/final year student at UM’s Department of Fiqh Usul and Applied Sciences, Academy of Islamic Studies could have slipped from his climb to enter his room after being locked out during the recent Friday’s (Oct 17) prayers.

“How the victim has fallen is unclear. Sometimes they climb onto the balcony or through the window when they’re unable to enter their hostel but slipped,” opined a mother from Ampang.

“There’ve been many cases like this before. I’ve always reminded my public university daughter who lives on the sixth floor of her hostel not to climb onto the balcony if she gets locked out as the walls could be slippery and mossy due to the rain.”
Another netizen suggested that the hostel’s administrative office would “usually keep duplicate room keys”.
“UIA (International Islamic University Malaysia) does; just go to their office to borrow the key to unlock the room.”


Editor’s Note: Interestingly, two days earlier on Oct 15, an 18-year-old university student was reportedly fighting for his life after he had fallen from the sixth floor of a 16-storey apartment in Kampar, Perak.
When contacted by Sin Chew Daily, Kampar police chief Superintendent Mohamad Nazri Daud said police received a report at 9.15pm and immediately rushed to the scene.


According to him, the victim rented a room about a month ago and that police found a large amount of medication inside.
Delving on the subject of fatal falls involving tertiary students in 2025 alone, 20-year-old Myanmar architecture student from UCSI University, Sithu Hpone Maw, was found dead after falling from the 26th floor of a condominium in Cheras after being reported missing on July 9.

In August, two Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology (TAR UMT) died in two separate incidents within 24 hours at a condominium in Taman Melati, Kuala Lumpur.
The first incident occurred at 6.45am on Aug 20 during which a 22-year-old female student was found dead in a back lane of the condominium, believed to have fallen from the 22nd floor.
The second incident occurred at 8.30pm at the same condominium – this time involving a 21-year-old male student – with the victim believed to have fallen from the topmost floor of the condominium which has a cafeteria.
Apart from Ahmad Arif’s fatal fall, October 2025 as a whole has been a month of misfortune for the Malaysian education sector for over the past two weeks alone, the nation has been shocked by the brutal murder of 16-year-old Yap Shing Xuen by a schoolmate two years her junior and two rape cases in Alor Gajah, Melaka and Baling, Kedah respectively.

On Oct 2, four Form 5 pupils had allegedly gang raped a Form 3 female schoolgirl in a classroom with two of the suspects allegedly recorded the act on their phones.
Two of the 17-year-old suspects who had since been expelled from their school were charged at the Alor Gajah Juvenile Court on Oct 16 with one having pleaded guilty to his action while the other pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.

On Oct 12, three secondary school pupils and one former pupil of a Baling boarding school were arrested for a similar offence although the police have classified the crime as “statutory rape” as opposed to gang rape given the acts were carried out on a consensual basis with the underaged victim. – Oct 19, 2025

 
- Focus Malaysia

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