KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 — Federal Territories Mufti Datuk Dr Zulkifli Mohamad al-Bakri today called on all quarters not to issue any speculative statements on the sodomy case involving nine students of a tahfiz centre in Kepong here as it could lead to greater polemics.

He said his office had been following the development of the case since it went viral in the social media.

"We have been consistently opposing any form of manipulation, abuse, injustice and oppression against children.

"Building negative perceptions and making speculative statements on the institution will only lead to Islamophobia that should never happen in a multi-racial and multi-religious Muslim country like Malaysia,” he tweeted this morning.

He said tahfiz institutions should always be respected and not to be associated with individual offences.

Meanwhile, Zulkifli said it was high time for the relevant quarters to consider implementing some proposals to streamline the governance of the tahfiz institutions in the country.

"This includes the proposal to empower the Gabungan Persatuan Institusi Tahfiz Al-Quran Kebangsaan (PINTA) as well as to have periodical monitoring of the governance and the wellbeing of tahfiz students in every parliamentary constituency by its respective Member of Parliament,” he added.

He said the proposal by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Fuziah Salleh to register all unregistered tahfiz centres should be considered seriously.

Yesterday, media reported that the principal of the tahfiz centre in Kepong had been detained for allegedly sodomising nine students, aged between 11 and 16.

The 30-year-old suspect was arrested a day after the police received a report from a male teacher at the centre on September 13. — Bernama