HER family is now the object of scorn and her neighbours are blaming her for not raising her son properly.

A divorcee in her 60s, she is the mother of one of the seven suspects in remand for a fire in a tahfiz school that claimed the lives of 21 pupils and two teachers last week.

She understands the public anger towards her son and her, but hopes that people will understand her situation.

“As a mother, I want the best for my children… for him (the suspect), who is the youngest. 

“People can say what they want. But they do not know that when he comes home late, I am out on the streets looking for him.

“They do not know that I inspect his things, look under his bed, to check if he is hiding anything from me.

“But you see, I also work to make ends meet. I can’t keep my eyes on him all the time. I am old, and it is difficult for a single parent like me to control him all the time,” said the woman, an Indonesian, who has been in the country for 40 years.

She said her son stopped going to school some years ago and as hard as she tried, she could not make him go back.

She and her four children live in Taman Datuk Keramat, not far from Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah, the tahfiz school where the fire broke out on September 14.

She did not want to talk about the other children. She said her husband left the family some years ago. He was a cleaner at the public toilet behind the tahfiz school, but lost the job after his son was arrested.

She works as temporary help at the wet market when there is work, for RM30 a day. 

The Malaysian Insight spoke to residents in the area last week and found out that most of fire suspects investigated came from broken homes.

The seven, like many youngsters in the area, liked to loiter about. Many do not go school.

While Kampung Datuk Keramat is just a stone’s throw from the city centre’s towering condominiums, high-end shopping strips and secluded bungalows, it is home to some of Kuala Lumpur’s poorest residents and the lowliest paid workers.

The woman, who broke down several times during this interview, said she saw her son on Thursday at the police station.

“Of course he cried and denied having any part in setting fire to the school. He also denied taking drugs.”

“I told him to be truthful to the police and not to be afraid if he had not committed any crime,” 

The Fire and Rescue Department has found evidence on the scene pointing to arson.

Police, meanwhile, are treating the case as murder.

“I am not making excuses for my son. I am aware of the heavy penalty that awaits him if he is charged and found guilty.

“As a mother, all I can do is tell him to share whatever information he has with the police. Do not hide anything.

“All I can do now is pray for the strength to go through this –   my son’s fate and the public wrath that I have to face every day,” she said. – September 23, 2017.