Ministry’s duty to give fast Internet to all, Dyana tells Shabery

Dyana Sofya is all smiles after a press conference in Teluk Intan today with Pakatan Rakyat leaders, Lim Kit Siang and Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim. - The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, May 23, 2014.It is the Communication and Multimedia Ministry’s duty to improve broadband facilities to all of Malaysia, and not just Teluk Intan or the states under Barisan Nasional (BN), Dyana Sofya Mohd Daud (pic) said today.

“It doesn’t matter who wins this coming by-election, it is still the responsibility of the ministry to improve broadband speed in the area.

"But not necessarily just for Teluk Intan, but the entire country,” said Dyana who is DAP's candidate for the Teluk Intan by-election.

She said that at the moment, the broadband speed in Malaysia is 5.48 megabytes per second (MBps), but in Cambodia, it is already 5.9 MBps while in Vietnam it is 14.2 MBps.

“Will he (Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek) only carry out his ministerial responsibilities if BN wins in Teluk Intan?” she demanded.

Dyana was responding to Shabery’s statement that Teluk Intan’s broadband facilities could only be improved if the parliamentary seat was held by a BN representative.

“This is a good proposition and can only be realised if the candidate comes from the same party as the one that oversees the local authorities,” Shabery was quoted as saying by national news agency Bernama.

DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang, who was also present at the press conference, said Shabery had failed to live up to former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s promise for Malaysia to become a leading country in Information Technology (IT).

“One of the reasons why we are straggling behind economically is because of our failure to develop IT technology in Malaysia. Our broadband is very slow,” said Lim.

“Remember in 1997, we were ahead of South Korea. Now South Korea can download whole movies fast and quick. Now we wait and wait.”

Meanwhile, Dyana denied criticism that she was a mere puppet for the DAP and was not given the freedom to speak, as alleged by Gerakan earlier today.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that I am given the chance to voice out whatever I have to say. As you can see in my previous ceramah and my previous [press conferences], and the articles I’ve written previously, it’s all written by me, it’s all said by me. Not YB Lim Kit Siang,” she said.

Asked to comment about Lim pullig away the microphone from her in a previous media conference, she explained that he had answered on her behalf because the question was related to former DAP vice-chairman Tunku Abdul Aziz Ibrahim.

“He would be the best person to answer that question, because it happened not during my time. Even if you ask me, I cannot answer. It did not happen during my time. I would still pass the microphone to him,” said Dyana.

Lim concurred, saying: “Diyana doesn’t know anything about that period, so I answered the question. That’s all.

“But who is the real political puppet here? Is Gerakan the puppet to Umno? Is Datuk Seri Najib Razak the puppet to Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad? Is Datuk Mah Siew Keong a puppet to anyone?” he shot back.

Lim said it was clear that Barisan Nasional was doing its utmost to destroy Dyana’s political will and fighting spirit by hurling such accusations at her.

“It is unfortunate because we should encourage more Malaysians to come forward to dare to take a stand rather than falling to BN’s threats who want to destroy young people who have the courage and conviction to stand with Pakatan Rakyat,” said Lim.