MCMC denies handing out busted netbooks, blames students for faults

A man tries the Acer Aspire One netbook at a computer mall in Taipei September 8, 2009. — Reuters pic

KUALA TERENGGANU, Nov 19 — The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) today denied an allegation that many of the netbooks given to students in the east coast were defective.

The netbooks were distributed to secondary school students under the 1 Malaysia Netbook Programme.

East Region MCMC deputy director Shahrizal Husin said if the netbooks were faulty, it was due to the students’ own carelessness.

He said for netbooks that were still under warranty, repair would be free, while the repair cost of the netbooks outside of the warranty period would have to be borne by the students themselves.

He said a total of 170,000 netbooks were distributed to secondary schools students in three phases beginning 2010.

The distribution of the third phase was conducted this year, involving 52,000 netbooks in Pahang, Terengganu (29,000) and Kelantan (12,000).

“We do receive complaints on the netbooks and also the limited service centres, but the problems have been overcome with the appointment of vendors by the supplier at certain locations,” he said when contacted by Bernama here today.

On abuse of the netbooks by students, he said they should use them to improve their knowledge and grades in school. — Bernama