KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 7 — Senator Alan Ling Sie Kiong today called on the Dewan Negara to act against Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin for misleading the upper house of Parliament.
The DAP man said even though Zahidi from Umno had apologised and retracted his remark, he should be referred to the senate’s rights and privileges committee for providing false information about University Malaysia Sabah (UMS) student Veveonah Mosibin last week.
“Although Datuk Zahidi has made a statement apologising for the false remark, it has however brought an adverse and negative effect onto Veveonah Mosibin and her family in the public sphere.
“The deputy minister has also misled and sullied the sanctity of this House,” Ling said in a statement.
He also issued a copy of a letter to the Dewan Negara president asking to refer Zahidi to the parliamentary panel for investigation and action.
While discussing internet access and connectivity problems, Zahidi told the senate last week that Veveonah was “just a YouTuber wanting to make a name for herself” and had faked sitting for an online university examination atop a tree in Pitas, Sabah back in June when campuses were still closed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Following public backlash on social media, Zahidi retracted his remark made in the House, saying he received incorrect information on the incident despite widespread news reports and coverage of the university student’s internet woes that forced her to climb a tree had been circulating for months.
