My Take | Stop blame game in Malaysia over Zara’s death, let justice take its course
Public interest and politics matter less than the need to solve the case and bring closure for the family of the 13-year-old victim
Zara Qairina died in hospital on July 17, a day after she was found unconscious in front of a dormitory at her boarding school in Papar district.
The initial response to her death was rather muted. Police said that she had likely fallen to her death from the three-storey building and returned her body to her mother for burial after wrapping up the investigation quickly.
It was not until Zara Qairina’s mother, Noraidah Lamat, decided to take matters into her own hands that public interest in the case surged.
Through her lawyers, Noraidah chastised the authorities for not conducting a postmortem to confirm the cause of death and inspect the condition of Zara Qairina’s body, which she said had bruises on the back.
She also handed over her mobile phone – which she said contained audio recordings of her daughter sharing her fears of bullying by seniors at her boarding school – to the police.