Liew standing with the crowd at the solidarity gathering on Friday night.
KOTA KINABALU: Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Christina Liew led a team of volunteers to demonstrate support for the “Justice for Zara” Solidarity Gathering at Padang Merdeka, here, on Friday night.
More than 10,000 people from all walks of life gathered at the venue to demand justice for 13-year-old Zara Qairina Mahathir.
When interviewed by reporters, she said they were gathered there as concerned citizens to reaffirm the “‘No’ to School Bullying” message, and to advocate for institutional reforms in residential schools to save lives by safeguarding children from abuse that could lead to death.
“We demand justice for Zara in unison. A promising life was cut short under mysterious circumstances. Her tragic death must not be in vain.
“We are together, irrespective of our social status or religious background, with one voice for the victim and all others who may have suffered a similar fate, anywhere in Malaysia.
“Tonight, I take this opportunity to urge the relevant authorities to ramp up their efforts to combat the culture of bullying in schools. Enough is enough. We totally reject this culture in Malaysia, especially in schools,” said Liew.
The Minister advanced the idea of putting proactive measures in place (as opposed to reactive measures) as an effective strategy to eliminate bullying in educational institutions.
“By ‘proactive measures’, I mean taking preventive measures to avert tragedies in school hostels, such as identifying the risks and signs of bullying and taking appropriate action before any problems escalate to a serious level,” she said.
She emphasised the pressing need to do away with any ‘reactive approach’ whereby the relevant authorities may only respond when a tragedy occurs, causing loss of innocent lives.
In the wake of what had happened, Liew said it is imperative for the authorities to transform their system or culture of doing things “by adopting a ‘preventative approach’ to nip bullying or other undesirable activities (involving school children) in the bud.”
“Let us all, as legislators, law enforcers, activists, school management authorities, parents or educators, play a positive role to ensure a safe schooling environment for our children at all times.
“Perhaps a proactive policy on child protection can be formulated to enable teachers and hostel wardens to anticipate and prevent potentially life-threatening situations, instead of reacting only when critical situations get out of hand,” she suggested. “All of us do not want a recurrence of the horrifying incident that befell Zara.”
Liew extended her deepest sympathies to Zara’s mother, Noraidah Lamat over her devastating loss.
She said earlier this week Nurul Izzah Anwar had met Noraidah here, to offer her condolences, adding she (Nurul) had vowed to champion justice for Zara.
