PETALING JAYA: After sparking an uproar among netizens, Kudat MP Abdul Rahim Bakri has deleted a Facebook posting accusing Sabahan student Veveonah Mosibin of faking an online university examination.
Rahim, who is deputy finance minister, said in the posting that Veveonah lives in town and her family no longer had a house in the kampung where she claimed to have climbed a tree to sit for the exam
He also accused Veveonah of deliberately creating a drama to seek attention and publicity.
Veveonah was propelled to fame recently after having posted a video on her YouTube channel three months ago about spending 24 hours up a tree in the jungle in order to get the best internet connection so that she could sit for her exams online.
Rahim said Veveonah’s account was inaccurate and baseless.
Malaysian netizens lambasted him for the accusation, labelling him “bully” and a person of “low IQ”.
Last week deputy communications and multimedia minister Zahidi Zainul Abidin had similarly accused Veveonah of being a YouTuber and faking her online exam to garner views for her video channel.
Facebook user Boo Ching Ong was among those who came to Veveonah’s defence today.
“These two deputy ministers are trying to divert the important issue. The fact is many rural areas either have unstable internet coverage or don’t have coverage at all,” he said.
“What the ministry of communications and multimedia should focus on is how to improve the coverage or at least try to solve this matter. Why keep on focusing on the genuine story of whether that girl was having her examination or not!”
Another Facebook user, Anthony Sumin, said: “Don’t know what kind of wakil rakyat is this. Condemning his own people rather than helping to fight for the right.”
Zahidi later apologised to Vevenoah, and said he had received “inaccurate information” on the matter. “I want to correct what I said about Veveonah, that she had not actually sat for the exams and that she had shared a video showing her on the tree just to garner views for her YouTube channel,” he said in his apology.
