YOURSAY | 'If the minister was smart, he would thank her for highlighting the problem…'

Info from Kudat MP - deputy minister who accused Veveonah of lying

IndigoKite6964: We have so many excuses as to why infrastructure cannot be expanded for better internet coverage in Sabah and Sarawak. The reasons given were problems building towers on native land and the stealing of generators.

Here is a University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) student needing the internet to do her exams online. Why can't a base station be built in places like UMS and rural school compounds and at the same time provide power to the schools that need it?

If there is a will, there is a way. Necessity is the mother of invention. I would say Veveonah Mosibin has greater will than our hopeless Padang Besar MP and Deputy Minister of Communications and Multimedia Zahidi Zainul Abidin.

Zahidi blames Kudat MP Abdul Rahim Bakri. Rahim blamed the (unnamed) UMS lecturer. Meanwhile, PAS blamed the Health Ministry and Foreign Ministry for their minister's failure to adhere to mandatory quarantine. It is as if blaming will get things done and cause the problem to go away.

As a last resort, when nobody buys the story, blame DAP.

I think we netizens should also stop blaming these VIPs - Very Idiotic People. Instead, we need to help all these backdoor frogs hop out of the front door quickly. It's time we give some new blood a chance.

The Wakandan: The fact is in Sabah and many rural areas in Malaysia, poor or no internet connectivity is not far-fetched at all. If the deputy minister was smart, he would thank the student for highlighting this problem.

At least, he could get some funds to solve it, and he would have scored some brownie points with the villagers. But the deputy minister didn't know that and was quick on the defence.

What's wrong with these people. Chronic inferiority complex?

Vijay47: Far from presenting a defence or even mitigation regarding your shameful conduct, Zahidi, you have proven yourself to be a spineless bully unworthy of any position.

Typical of Umno leaders, you refuse to take responsibility for your abject failure and in the usual Umno fashion, are scraping to lay blame on anyone else but yourself. You even have the cheek to claim DAP politicised the issue.

Instead of apologising as any man of honour would and ending the matter there, you insist on wanting to "check two or three times", refusing to consider the impact of all this continued attention on the poor girl.

You, the MP from Kudat, and the USM lecturer are ganging up against a helpless girl. By the way, since when have our crop of university lecturers and professors come with honour and intelligence?

Veveonah's only misfortune is that she does not come from a family with a swimming pool. She is a poor village girl dreaming of success in her life despite all the obstacles put up by leaders like you.

Will the young lady henceforth be left alone to chart her path in life or will she face unending harassment from your cronies in the university for daring to speak up about the absence of basic utilities in her village?

When this entire issue has been appropriately modified, I will not be surprised if Veveonah is charged with fake news and bringing shame to that shameless university.

Zahidi, you did not misspeak in Parliament, you embarked on a smug brutal attack on the student, devoting almost your entire reply savaging Veveonah.

The only silver lining here is that as your original false statement was made in Parliament, disciplinary proceedings can be taken against you. Let us see what that other hero, House speaker Azhar Azizan Harun, will do.

In the meantime, for heaven's sake, leave the girl alone.

MS: Not a day goes by before another cretin emerges from the murky depths of politics to reassure Malaysians that the country is indeed in the grimy hands of shady characters.

We had the quarantine flouter Khairuddin Aman Razali who has confounded investigators on how he managed to inflict Parliament with his presence without the knowledge of his cabinet colleagues and how he was later fined with the Health director-general apparently knowing nothing about it.

Before that, of course, the country, and indeed the World Health Organisation, were simultaneously elated and confused by the health minister's preventive prescription of warm water repelling Covid-19.

And now, so soon after the unwashed masses finally cleansed themselves and their homes long after their elected representatives and kin had dips in swimming pools, we are presented with this UiTM Diploma holder from the "big padang" near the Thai border whose unparliamentary assault of an underprivileged student (and the mythical Red Bean Army and the DAP) is as shocking as his now publicised postgraduate degree.

Hmmmmmmmm: Zahidi, when you first heard of the problem, we would have expected you to find out if the lack of internet connectivity is true. Instead, you wanted to check if the girl was lying about taking her exams online. How exactly would knowing that solve the connectivity problem?

If I were the lecturer, I probably would also have given you the same answer as there is no relevance to your question.

You started off well by apologising and explaining how you got the message wrong. But as soon as you mentioned DAP, you lost all credibility and sincerity. Straightaway, we can see that you were just politicising the whole issue.

You should have remained a rubber tapper. At least, you would have been productive.

Mafeeah: So what if your parents are farmers or you were a farmer? It is what you are today that matters and it does not look good on you, even though you are an MP and deputy minister.

Don't bother telling us your background. How do you live today? Do you have to suffer like the rakyat who voted you in?

We queue up for water, struggle to survive with high prices of goods and services, and have to contend with wastage and corruption. What are you doing about it? Who cares what family you come from!

IndigoCat9464: The always-blaming DAP narrative by Perikatan Nasional/BN/Umno/PAS will never end. The people of Sabah and Sarawak need to stop supporting these politicians and wake up from their slumber.

People in the peninsula did their very best to bring in an alternative government in the last general election. Give another chance to PKR and the new party led by Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman to lead.

There will definitely be much less corruption and more money for the rakyat to have a decent life.

And we can stop having half-past-six 'otak udang' ministers leading this beloved country.

Newday: Zahidi, you used what turned out to be incorrect information. You made a big song and dance about this at the time.

Then your online army of sympathisers and stooges nastily got stuck into Veveonah. Yet, here you are complaining about online reactions when you were found to be wrong.

Yes, you have apologised and expressed a desire to get to the bottom of the issue. I believe your apology is genuine, but seriously don't complain if you have been hammered over this.

By the way, you have altered the background to this controversy – initially, you stated that your researchers had provided the information. That is not the case now.

I am waiting for the standard BN electioneering announcement of 5,000 wireless towers to improve connectivity, just like how they had made such election promises in Chini and Slim.

Dr Dani: He's the one that blunders and throws himself under the bus for no thinkable reason against a defenceless innocent young girl.

Now he dragged his "informants" under the bus together with him as if that would be a good defence. Just sack him. This is no leader.

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