HELP was forthcoming for the family of S. Sathiswaran following the death of the teen struck by a falling chair at a high-rise apartment in 2018, said Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil.

Fahmi said the boy’s mother, S. Kasthuribai received assistance from his office, including getting her eldest son, S. Yogeswaran, into college.

“To say that we never assisted her at all is an injustice. It’s not true,” Fahmi told The Malaysian Insight.

“We have helped Kasthuribai.”

He was responding to her accusations that politicians had taken advantage of her grief to gain political mileage and then abandoned her and her family. 

Fahmi said he bears her no ill feelings, saying “I know the difficulties that they are going through.”

Kasthuribai had said that the MPs had promised her justice for her son’s death as well as a free home in the same block of flats where she lives. The promises were not kept, she said.

Fahmi, who is the PKR communications director, said he had tried to help the family in every way he could after Sathiswaran was killed.

Fahmi said he helped Yogeswaran to get a scholarship from TOC Automotive College in Petaling Jaya. 

Yogeswaran, however, stopped attending college within a month of enrolment.

“The idea at that time was to assist her son continue with his studies. My office went through the process of getting her son enrolled into the college. Unfortunately within less than a month, he quit.

“We were not informed about it by Kasthuribai, her son or her family. We only found out from the college’s administration.

“The school administration was quite worried because they had promised to give him the scholarship and it was not cheap. It’s worth more than the amount we have tried to raise or raised,” he said, referring to a scholarship fund started under the name of the victim, Sathiswaran, after his death.

Fahmi said the funds were never used for his personal expenses nor for political purposes.

On the issue of free housing, Fahmi said that it was a promise made during the Barisan Nasional regime, when Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor was the Federal Territories Minister.

Fahmi said apart from the free housing promised by Tengku Adnan, the installation of safety nets at the PPR housing was another guarantee.

However, he said, the safety nettings were only installed in two blocks in Pantai Dalam, namely Block 100 and 102.

“Initially it was a promise made by the then FT minister. I was following up on a promise that was given to her when her son died.”

Fahmi said that he has no executive powers to approve and grant Kasthuribai and the family free housing, adding this came under the jurisdiction of the Kuala Lumpur City Council (DBKL).

“I did raise the matter with the Community Development and Urban Wellbeing Department director. I can only recommend, persuade and try to reason and rationalise with the authorities,” he said.

Fahmi said even now, he is ever ready to help Kasthuribai and her family.

He said that securing Yogeswaran’s education is one of his main priorities.

“I will still continue to assist Kasthuribai’s family, particularly to ensure her son continues with his studies,” Fahmi said, adding that his office is always open and that he can be reached any time.

On January 15, 2018, Sathiswaran, a form three student at SMK La Salle Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur, was on the ground floor of the PPR Seri Pantai flats with Kasthuribai when a chair, flung from the 21st floor of the low-cost flats, struck him. He later died from massive head injuries.

Police are treating the incident as a murder inquiry.

Kasthuribai is also demanding RM1 million in compensation from DBKL for her loss, citing the local authority’s failure ensuring cleanliness and safety in the common areas. – February 25, 2021.