MALAYSIANS donated RM7.6 million to the families of the 23 victims who died in a fire at a tahfiz school in Kg Datuk Keramat, Kuala Lumpur, last month.

The money will be distributed to the families after an audit is done, said National Institute of Tahfiz Al-Quran Association adviser Mohd Gunawan Che Ab Aziz.

“A total of RM7.6 million was collected. The documentation has been completed and now we only need to submit them to be audited,” said Gunawan, who is also adviser to Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah which was burned.

He was speaking to The Malaysian Insight on the sidelines of the national tahfiz education seminar in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend.

Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah headmaster Mohd Zahid Mahmood, who came under fire from the families of the victims earlier, declined to comment on the donations.

The families have been frustrated with the tahfiz centre management, which they claimed had ignored them after the tragedy which killed 21 pupils and two wardens.

They said the school had not contacted them with information regarding the safety compliance of the building in which the tahfiz centre was housed, or how much it had collected in contributions.

“If you want to ask about the donations, I cannot comment,” Zahid told The Malaysian Insight.

The headmaster had met with the families of the fire victims on September 25, two weeks after the tragedy.

Prior to that meeting, The Malaysian Insight reported that the families were looking at appointing a lawyer to demand justice.

Noor Azizan Abdul Aziz, whose 16-year-old son died in the fire, said the headmaster had recently announced at an event that the donations would be distributed.

“But he has not yet informed the family. He only announced it during the event. He said they would distribute the contributions in another week or two because there must be an audit first. So, we will wait and see,” she told The Malaysian Insight on Friday.

 Meanwhile, Malaysia Wakaf Foundation executive Mohd Asraf Safwan Kamaruzaman proposed starting a Wakaf Pinta Fund for a more systematic management of donations.

He said the proposal was inspired by the case of Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah.

“People wanted to donate but could not until the tahfiz centre’s account number became viral.

“With the Wakaf Pinta Fund, the money will be channelled into an account and a committee will be formed to distribute the money according to the needs of the tahfiz centre in the event of an emergency.” – October 17, 2017.