Kuala Lampur, Oct. 6 -- What stayed with me after Fadhlina's press conference yesterday was how quickly people dismissed her tears. She was speaking about Irene Sofiya's death, and some had already decided they were "crocodile tears". I don't know how anyone can look at another person's distress through a screen and be so certain that it is an act.

As a mother, I cannot hear about a child dying at school without thinking about the parents who sent that child there, expecting her to come home. That is something many of us understand. Why is it so difficult to accept that the education minister, who is also a mother, might feel it too?

Of course, her tears do not settle questions about school safety. She still has responsibilities, and we...