KOTA BARU, Sept 18 — The Communications and Multimedia Ministry (K-KOMM) expects the distribution of the devices under the PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia initiative to be completed this November.

Its Minister, Tan Sri Annuar Musa said that as of yesterday there were more than 300,000 applications received for phases one and two, with the distribution for phase one applications being actively arranged.

"Hopefully within the next two weeks, it can be completed so that in October we can start distributing the devices to the phase two applicants.

"As the response has been very encouraging, the secretariat is facing problems and being slow in processing the applications,” he said after the presentation session of the PerantiSiswa devices at Kelantan Matriculation College in Kok Lanas here today.

Annuar said the application for the device will not be rejected but the second round of review will be carried out and they will have to meet the requirements based on the database since many applicants are not from the B40 group.

"Student associations and administrators at universities can help verify based on records or physical interviews, especially when colleges and universities will open in October.

"The ministry found that there are applicants who are not from the B40 and need to do a second round of review to ensure that recipients meet the set criteria,” he said.

He said that the existing data is not necessarily accurate because there may be applicants whose parents are divorced and whose original record is not in the B40 or who lost their job during Covid-19 and will also be given due consideration.

He said the PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia initiative chooses highly reputable brands and the latest specifications in the market with certain warranties. — Bernama