Perak Menteri Besar Saarani Mohamad has defended the state government’s move to distribute 20,000 smartphones to students following criticism that the devices were unsuitable for home-based teaching and learning (PdPR).
In an online press conference (above) this afternoon, he explained that the phones were not procured using public funds but, in fact, were contributed by the YTL Foundation.
The state executive council had approved the contribution after it was briefed by the foundation and determined that the phone model was suitable for home-based teaching and learning.
The phones in question have been identified as the YES Altitude 3 sold by YTL Communications. Specifications include a 5” screen, an 854x480 pixels resolution and a 1.3GHz processor with 1GB RAM and 8GB storage.
The devices were given free to students from B40 families under the state’s “Tuisyen Cikgu Saarani” initiative that was named after Saarani.
“If people want to give us alms when we are in difficult times, we should accept it and not demand this and that. If people give us sardines when we are in difficult times, let us eat the sardines. Let us not say we want to eat chicken.
“The story is that these smartphones were given to us for free and we (the state government) accepted them and distributed them to the students.
“I am very grateful to YTL Foundation and I welcome any company that wants to collaborate with the state government to offer free contributions, especially for the poor [...],” the MB said.
He added that the state had already received 13,000 out of the 20,000 promised devices. Each phone comes bundled with a 12-month data plan.
District education offices have been tasked with determining which students will receive the free smartphones.
Asked if the state government planned to upgrade the smartphones to better suit video conferencing needs, Saarani indicated that it did not.
“This is better than nothing. If we did not have this contribution from YTL Foundation, it would mean that thousands of B40 children will not have any devices for PdPR.
“With the specifications (of the current phone), this is adequate for PdPR. I advise we start with what we have, this is better than not having anything at all.
“God willing, more devices will be given to us after this,” he said.
Perak executive councillor (education, higher education and human resources) Ahmad Saidi Mohamad Said previously said that the phones’ low specifications would serve as a deterrent against students misusing them to “play (video) games”.
Opposition MPs Steven Sim and Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman have criticised the Perak government for not providing better quality devices to needy students.
No cause for concern
Questioned if he was concerned about an incident where a subsidised mobile phone from YES Communications allegedly caught fire when used for PdPR, Saarani said he was not.
The incident happened in Gombak, Selangor and is unrelated to the Perak government’s programme.
“From the 100,000 phones that have been distributed (by YTL Foundation) across Malaysia, only one caught fire. We won’t see this as a reason for us to investigate.
“If I buy many lightbulbs for my house and one burns out, I won’t be angry at the company,” the MB quipped.
Yesterday, a woman told Malaysiakini that she witnessed a subsidised phone provided to her nine-year-old nephew under the Jaringan Prihatin initiative catching fire during an online class.
No one was injured but they were rattled by the dangerous incident.
The government has partnered with telecommunications companies to roll out the RM3.5 billion Jaringan Prihatin programme which aims to help low-income households obtain devices and Internet access for PdPR.
YTL Communications’ YES is one of the participating telecommunications companies under this programme. YTL Foundation also undertakes a "Learn from Home" programme targeting B40 families that need devices.
The company had since pledged to investigate the incident and is in the process of contacting the person the faulty phone was issued to. - Mkini
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