THE families and kin of victims of the Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah fire should discuss with the school management before taking any action, said its principal Mohammad Zahid Mahmood.

He said the school did not intend to sideline the families but had been unable to meet them due to time constraints.

“We have not been able to deal with the parents because of time constraints. I hope the parents don’t rush into taking action but discuss with us first.

“We only want to help the parents. From the very beginning we did not ask them for contributions (to attend the school),” said Zahid when met by The Malaysian Insight in front of the Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah building at Jalan Keramat Hujung.

The principal said he plans to meet the affected families on Sunday to discuss matters and disbursement of the contributions.

The Malaysian Insight had reported today that more than 10 families of the fire victims at the tahfiz centre are planning to appoint lawyers to represent them.

The families alleged that the principal has briefed them on what has happened at the school or the donations they received following the fire.

They also alleged that they have yet to receive any contributions from the centre.

Prior to this, Zahid, who is also the president of the Gabungan Persatuan Institusi Tahfiz Al-Quran Kebangsaan (PINTA), told The Star that the centre had collected RM1 million in contributions to date.

He also promised that the centre will be transparent with the contributions received and will distribute it to the affected families soon.

While he did not disclosed the total amount that the families will receive, Zahid said the amount is much higher than what was received by the centre.

“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.

Fire and Rescue Department director-general Wan Mohd Nor Ibrahim said that the fire at the school caused by petrol being splashed on several parts of the building.

Petrol was splashed on doors, towel racks, shoe racks and walls near the entrance to the dorm on the third floor of the temporary building housing the school.

The fire killed 21 students and two wardens. Almost all the victims were found badly burnt.

The incident is the second biggest in the history of fire involving tahfiz school, which was sparked by vengeance. – September 22, 2017.