SHAH ALAM, Aug 30 — Persatuan Institusi Tahfiz Al-Quran Negeri Selangor (Pitas) intends to collaborate with Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) to establish specific guidelines for inviting tahfiz students to external programmes.
Pitas chairman Muhamad Hafiz Muhamad Haneefa said previously Jais had established the “Buku Peraturan Murid (Sistem Pembangunan Sahsiah Murid)” (Student Regulations Book — Student Character Development System) for private tahfiz institutions, but there were no specific guidelines regarding inviting students to external programmes.
“We believe that a discussion with Jais could lead in developing specific guidelines to tackle this issue. These guidelines will make tahfiz centres and religious schools more cautious when considering external invitations.
“We urge the public not to invite tahfiz students to inappropriate places like concerts, out of concern for the students,” he said at a press conference here today, following the incident of a group of tahfiz students attending the KEPCI Music Fest at Stadium Malawati last Saturday.
Muhammad Hafiz added that the students are residents of a welfare home and not from a tahfiz school as reported.
“Upon investigation, we found that this school differs from our tahfiz school. It mainly functions as a welfare centre for Rohingya and Burmese refugees in Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI). This information was verified by the individuals who extended the invitation to them.
“Other tahfiz schools and welfare centres were invited too, but only for afternoon meals,” he said.
Previously, the media reported that an individual named Andrie Ung Han Xiang admitted to being responsible for bringing the tahfiz students to the concert, providing an opportunity for less privileged orphaned children to experience attending such an event.
Andrie said the children, seen wearing green robes and white turbans in a post that went viral, were from the Watahfiz al-Quran Rohingya Madrasah in TTDI Jaya. They are Muslim Rohingya refugees and can hardly communicate in Bahasa Melayu.
Commenting on the issue of alleged closure of 200 religious schools in Selangor, Muhammad Hafiz said that this is a false and entirely unfounded accusation.
“Please provide information about the schools that were instructed to close. I personally confirmed this with the chairman of the Gabungan Sekolah Islam Selangor, and they were equally surprised by the source of these statements,” he added.
Pitas currently oversees over 400 registered tahfiz centres under Jais. — Bernama