PM Anwar Warns Against Politicising Bullying Victim’s Death

PUTRAJAYA, Aug 18 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has reminded all parties not to turn the death of any bullying victim into a political weapon.

Anwar, who is also Finance Minister, said that using the death of a bullying victim for deception and incitement is a completely unacceptable act.

“As for social media, we regulate it, but there are limits. For example, most recently, someone claiming to be a pathologist gave an account of (the post-mortem on Zara Qairina Mahathir), and this poisoned the minds of millions of people, to the point that my friends, wife and colleagues asked me, 'What is this?'

“The person (Zara Qairina) has already died, and then we turn this into a political weapon to attack others. If it were true, that would be one thing — but how can we play up (this issue) in a way that makes use of someone’s death for lies and incitement?” he said.

Anwar said this when delivering his address at the Prime Minister’s Monthly Assembly with staff of the Prime Minister’s Department (JPM) here today.

Also present were Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, Chief Secretary to the Government Tan Sri Shamsul Azri Abu Bakar and Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Wan Ahmad Dahlan Abdul Aziz.

The Prime Minister did not rule out the possibility of shortcomings in handling the death of student Zara Qairina in Sabah on July 17, including in terms of the investigation and certain delays, but stressed that the authorities are addressing the matter as best as possible.

“DPM Fadillah, DPM Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and I have already issued statements, and we have held a high-level meeting to ensure that the investigation is transparent,” he said.

Commenting on bullying, Anwar stressed that the culture must be completely eradicated, as it constitutes psychological and physical abuse with major repercussions for society.

“Certain controversies in the country, especially several cases of the deaths of our children — our child Zara (Qairina) in Sabah, Faris (Wan Ahmad Faris Wan Abdul Rahman) in Kelantan and several other cases — are said to be bullying cases.

“Bullying is psychological and physical abuse, whether in schools, universities, offices, or the Health Ministry (MOH). This culture must be stopped, as it is a form of depravity involving humiliation based on someone’s person, skin colour and more,” he said.

Yesterday, Communications Minister Datuk Fahmi Fadzil said the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, together with the police, is determining the identity of a TikTok user who claimed to be a surgeon involved in Zara Qairina’s case.

Fahmi was reported as saying the individual claimed to have been present during the post-mortem of the Form One student on Aug 10, but checks by MOH confirmed that the person was neither a specialist doctor nor an MOH staff member.

Zara Qairina died at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Kota Kinabalu on July 17. She had been admitted to the hospital after being found unconscious in a drain near the hostel of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Agama Tun Datu Mustapha in Papar at 4 am on July 16.

-- BERNAMA