Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang has called for Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Zahidi Zainul Abidin to be referred to the Senate committee of privileges over his remarks on Sabahan student Veveonah Mosibin.
"Zahidi must be referred to the Senate committee of privileges to determine how he could be so ignorant and incompetent as to call Veveonah of Pitas a liar in the Senate over her Youtube (video) on spending a night on a treetop to get Internet connection for her examination," Lim said in a statement today.
Zahidi's excuse of having received "inaccurate information" for his accusation against Veveonah was "a most lame one", he added.
"The Senate committee of privileges should establish whether Zahidi was telling the truth in claiming that he had received 'inaccurate information' or this is Zahidi's second lie."
The DAP stalwart said if Zahidi really did receive inaccurate information, then the officer responsible for this should be identified and suitably punished. But if Zahidi was lying about that, he should be "doubly punished".
In June, a video of 18-year-old Veveonah climbing a tree to get decent Internet connectivity to take her online examinations had gone viral. She was later offered a scholarship at Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS).
While she received praise for her determination, her situation also highlighted the infrastructure disparities faced by those living in rural Sabah.
After her video got picked up by the news, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had announced that it planned to build a telecommunications tower near Veveonah's village to enable a 4G connection.
On Sept 3, Zahidi had said in the Dewan Negara that the student was lying in the viral video.
"Veveonah is a Youtuber, and there were no exams. We've checked. She is just a Youtuber who wants to make a name (for herself). She is famous for a moment, and she does it just for entertainment.
"These are acts that we are sometimes deceived by. We shouldn't be so easily fooled by Youtubers causing issues," the deputy minister had said.
Zahidi later apologised for wrongly accusing Veveonah, saying he did not obtain the correct information when he spoke about her in the Senate.
Veveonah also denied Zahidi's accusation and furnished her examination schedule as proof that she had indeed taken an examination while on the tree.
In a separate statement today, Lim also questioned whether Muhyiddin Yassin was the "weakest" of all prime ministers of Malaysia due to his inaction over Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Khairuddin Aman Razali.
"I do not think Khairuddin would have survived as a cabinet minister under any other prime minister in Malaysia after violating the Covid-19 quarantine standard operating procedure (SOP) following his personal visit to Turkey on July 7.
"(There was also) the lies that were told, in particular about Turkey at the time being a 'green zone' when it was an epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic, and his attempt to make light his breach by claiming that he did not do anything wrong in regard to his job and that it involved only an error over the issue of the Covid-19 SOP.
"Such remarks exposed the fitness of Khairuddin to be a minister of a government fighting the Covid-19 pandemic," he added.
Lim also pointed to Khairuddin's call for the permanent closure of pubs and nightclubs in support of Muhyiddin.
He questioned whether Khairuddin was trying to mould the image of Muhyiddin's government after the PAS image.
"In the first place, did Muhyiddin announce the banning of pubs and nightclubs?"
Lim said he checked Muhyiddin's speech text on the extension of the recovery movement control order (MCO) and found no reference to any ban on pubs or nightclubs.
Muhyiddin had said in his speech that all businesses except for pubs and nightclubs would be allowed to be open.
"Only pubs and nightclubs have yet to resume business, but I feel it may be a good thing if they don't open at all," Muhyiddin had said.
Lim wondered why Muhyiddin was staying silent now, despite Khairuddin speaking up in favour of a permanent ban on pubs and nightclubs.
"Why didn't he (Muhyiddin) clarify the matter although it caused anguish and dismay to distraught musicians and nightclubs owners as well as the statement by the Federation of Malaysian Entertainment Industry president Liew Poon Siak?
"Does his silence… highlight another aspect of his political weakness as prime minister and his preparedness to cast his government in the PAS mould just to keep his government and prime minister aspiration alive?" he added. - Mkini
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