Zahidi apologising on Facebook for his blunder.
KOTA KINABALU: The statement made by a deputy minister in a Dewan Negara session yesterday saying that Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) student, Veveonah Mosibin did not sit for any examination on a tree has sparked anger among netizens.
Most of Veveonah’s batchmates on social media condemned the statement made by Deputy Minister of Communications and Multimedia, Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin, while some shared their tests’ schedules to prove that the lawmaker did not have the right to discredit Veveonah.
In his statement, Zahidi said Veveonah uploaded the video for entertainment, and lied about sitting for her exam on a tree for internet connection.
“Veveonah and I are batchmates. Our exam was from Tuesday to Friday and she uploaded the video on Saturday. It went viral a few days after,” said a Twitter user, who went by the handle @WongGenHee.
“Bismillah, I’m here to stand as strong as the rest of my batchmates and she is one of us. To assume that she didn’t have and exam is absurd. We did have our online final in last June,” said Ahmad0 in his Twitter post, followed by a smiley emoticon.
“Hi. As one of her batch mates, I just want to tell that Veveonah was studying in Foundation in Science and we have finale exam to sit during that week. If there is any checks, may we see the evidence that she did not sit for the online exam?” asked @stekwashere who was replying to one of the news link on the matter in Twitter.
It was learnt that about 200 students took the exam, and most of them were disappointed with the statement made by the deputy federal minister handling the multimedia portfolio, a person who is supposed to have accurate information instead of spreading fake news.
However after a few hours, Zahidi in his Facebook status issued an apology note saying that he was given inaccurate information when answering an additional question.
“I have received inaccurate information in answering additional questions. I would like to apologize to Veveonah Mosibin and will also make a correction at the Dewan Negara next Monday.
“May Veveonah Mosibin continue to thrive in every field she ventures into,” he said.
Meanwhile, Veveonah said she was sad and frustrated because of so many negative comments from netizens following Zahidi’s earlier statement.
“For the record, I did my very best to sit for the online final exam, and so did my other batchmates who also faced similar problem like me. But it’s okay, I believe every human being makes mistakes, and I should forgive,” she said, when contacted yesterday.
Last June, the video entitled “24 Hours On Tree Challenge” by Veveonah went viral as thousands of Malaysians were touched by her determination not to allow any obstacles to stop her in her educational pursuit.
With limited internet connection in her village, Kampung Sapatalang Pitas, she was forced to build a hut on a hill in the jungle in order to ‘attend’ a virtual test conducted by the university during the pandemic.
However, the hut she built was destroyed due to strong rain and wind.
It was the reason for her to set up a few stilts on a langsat tree, so that she can sit comfortably while answering the test questions.
As of press time, the video was viewed more than 731,000 times.