KUANTAN, Sept 5 ― The Communications and Multimedia Ministry is in the midst of improving internet reach in Sabah as preparations for the upcoming state election.

Its minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah said the focus would be on nomination and vote tally centres, as they are deemed important venues during an election, this besides benefiting the media workforce for quicker news delivery.

"The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has initiated preparations. Internet reach in Sabah is not as good as in the Peninsula and this must be improved as there will be lots of campaigning on social media during the election.

"That is why we hope to do these improvements quickly and the focus, for now, is to optimise the 4G network. This we can do after learning from our experience in Chini (by-election) in Pahang before this,” he said.

Saifuddin told reporters this after attending the Aspirasi Merdeka IM Malaysia event organised by Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) at Kompleks Dagangan Mahkota here today.

The Election Commission (EC) has fixed September 26 for the Sabah state election while nominations are on September 12.

Saifuddin, who is also Indera Mahkota member of parliament, said he will be in Sabah tomorrow to check on internet upgrading works and preparations for the election media centre.

The media centre will be located in Kota Kinabalu, he said but added that there is a possibility that more such centres would be set up in other zones due to the vast size of the state. ― Bernama