KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 8 — Senator Adrian Lasimbang today said that the recent remarks by two federal deputy ministers that undergraduate Veveonah Mosibin had faked taking her online university exams on top of a tree were an insult to all Sabahans.
Lasimbang was referring to initial comments made by Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin and Deputy Minister of Finance I Abdul Rahim Bakri over Veveonah, which earned them scorn on social media.
The DAP lawmaker said this was because poor internet connectivity is a serious problem faced by Sabahans, especially those living in the interior.
“They easily blamed the Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s lecturers, showing ignorance, especially Abdul Rahim.
“He is the people's representative from Sabah and should know the difficulty of getting internet access, especially in rural areas,” Lasimbang said in a statement.
He said the poor internet connectivity in Sabah seriously disrupted the learning process during the March-June movement control order.
“For example, students in Kampung Tilis, Tenom have to climb a hill about 30 to 40 minutes to reach the small hut built by Tenom MP Noorita Sual in order to get internet access,” he said.
Lasimbang said Zahidi needs to explain the integrated plan covering the concrete territory and timeline for the implementation of the Jendela Digital Negara plan.
“I call on both deputy ministers, Zahidi and Abdul Rahim not to hide the real issue and take serious efforts to manage the internet access in Sabah,” he said.
“I give my full support to Veveonah, because it reflects the real problem faced by many individuals like ‘Veveonah’ in Sabah,” he added.
Zahidi came under fire for his remarks in the senate last week suggesting Veveonah was an attention seeker and had faked having to take an online examination in a tree in rural Sabah due to poor internet connectivity.
The Padang Besar MP from Umno has since apologised and yesterday named Kudat MP Abdul Rahim Bakri from Bersatu as his source of information.
Abdul Rahim continued to take a defensive stance, insisting his investigation showed no examinations were conducted online in June and cited a Universiti Malaysia Sabah faculty member as his source.
He added that Veveonah is not a resident of Kampung Sepatalang as she claimed, though the 18-year-old has explained that she was staying there temporarily during the movement control order to help her family.
She has also publicly shared her examination schedule on social media to back her assertion of university exams between June 9 and June 12.
Abdul Rahim has since removed his Facebook posting on Veveonah.
