LABUAN: The latest action by Bukit Aman police headquarters to investigate three Sabah police personnel over the death findings of 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir, while praiseworthy, does not go far enough vis-à-vis public expectations, said an activist.
Haji Abdul Jalil Ghani said the investigations should include certain other superiors as well because they surely endorsed the initial report despite knowing there was growing public unease until it was rightfully rejected by the Federal Attorney General as inadequate and the body of Zara exhumed.
“I believe the OCCI (Officer in Charge of Criminal Investigation) should also be questioned.
window.googletag = window.googletag || {cmd: []};googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.defineSlot('/22826383987/dailyexpress_inline', [1, 1], 'gpt-passback').addService(googletag.pubads());googletag.enableServices();googletag.display('gpt-passback');});“Maybe it is not too much to ask that all of them, including even the Commissioner of Police, if necessary, since this happened under his watch, to take leave temporarily until the Federal team finish their investigations,” said Abdul Jalil, adding this is also the view of many discussing this matter in coffeshops.
He said this does not mean they are complicit but for the sake of transparency and pre-empt talk of interference by certain quarters who may still be dissatisfied later.
Abdul Jalil said there was a big difference in how the police handled the Zara case and that of Mohd Nazmi Aizat bin Mohd Nairul Azwan – the 17-year-old vocational student who was murdered a year ago in Lahad Datu. The latter case is still ongoing.
He said both cases involved students around the same age and both the deaths involved commotion in their respective dormitories of their schools and inaction by the wardens.
“But this is where the similarities end because police in Lahad Datu wasted no time in arresting 19 suspects within four hours of the incident.
“Altogether 19 students were arrested and 13 students aged 16 to 19 were eventually charged.
“This is what the public and Zara’s family would have expected to be done.
“Yet it’s one month since Zara died and not a single person has been arrested.
“They were all just questioned and sent home. So, they literally returned home to sleep while the parents and family members of Zara and the public at large continue to lose sleep.”
Secondly, there was no post mortem done immediately upon death unlike in Lahad Datu case where a post mortem was done at once.
“We also don’t know whether the handphones of the 60 people who have been questioned in the Zara case have been seized, especially that of the Principal and all the teachers at SMK Agama Tun Mustapha for evidence,” he said.
“Nobody also knows where is Zara’s phone as she would not have kept things to herself.”
He said all this begs the question as to whether SOPs have been ignored in the Zara case, failure in carrying out their duties or even a cover up for whatever reason/s.
“The fact that poor Zara was supposedly found in the drain at 3am and police report was lodged at 8am is also shocking. How long was she lying in the drain nobody knows.
“Or when was she eventually sent to hospital because she only succumbed to her injuries the next day in Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
“The Principal and warden should have been arrested immediately,” he said.
Abdul Jalil said the State Education Department’s actions are also suspect because while the Education Director said no student has been transferred, mothers have been expressing alarm in Tik Tok that students from SMK Tun Mustapha have joined their school (SMK Tansau).
“If that was true, were these the suspected students and if so how can they or any student for that matter simply enrol in another school without the recipient school’s approval, which the department should also be informed?
“The Director also is not saying whether the students involved have stopped coming to school or decided to stop going to school without permission.
“If so, they should be automatically expelled if the school was not officially informed of their wish.
“In fact, they should have been suspended immediately to calm other parents.”
Nevertheless, Abdul Jalil said the public felt relieved that Bukit Aman decided to take over the case.
“Let’s hope that in future people entrusted with responsibility show leadership by doing the right things instead of waiting for the rakyat to mobilise street rallies before taking action,” he said.