Deputy Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Bakri yesterday deleted the online post in which he insisted that popular YouTuber Veveonah Mosibin had lied about taking exams in a tree.
The post disappeared from his Facebook page just hours after it went up and amid a public uproar about him doubling down on the false accusation targeting the University Malaysia Sabah student.
The minister did not publicly state his reasons for removing the post, which confirmed that he was the person who had told Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Zahidi Zainul Abidin the mistruth about Veveonah. The latter brought it up in parliament on Friday when being questioned about the poor internet access in Sabah.
Abdul Rahim, 59, who also represents Kudat, Sabah, did not respond to Coconuts KL’s online request for comment.
Last night, the teenage student’s brother, Mekvin Mosibin, aired his thoughts online regarding the two deputy ministers.
“My sister uploaded her YouTube video merely to share about what life is truly like in the village, but it looks like that has made some ministers uncomfortable,” the Resorts World Genting employee wrote on Facebook.
“If you’re a true leader, come down to the villages and live the way we live, instead of spreading misinformation to the people,” he added. “Of course the village has Internet connection, only it’s incredibly slow in Pitas, even to answer exam questions. This is just the Internet, by the way, we haven’t said anything about the electricity and water supply yet to rural villages yet.”
Mekvin’s statement has been shared nearly 4,000 times.
Both deputy ministers had insisted that there were no such exams on the day Veveonah climbed a tree in a remote part of Sabah for better internet connection before posting a video of it online. Even though Zahidi claimed the information was obtained from an unnamed university professor, an exam schedule posted to the university’s website and to Veveonah’s social media account showed that exams were taking place from June 1 to 21. The video was uploaded on June 12.
During Friday’s parliamentary sitting, Zahidi called Veveonah a “liar” and someone who had “manipulated” and fooled her viewers for fame. He apologized online for spreading inaccurate information after his statement sparked public outrage, only to stand by what he said on Monday and hours later backed by the now-deleted statement from Zahidi.
Yesterday, Hannah Yeoh, the former Deputy Minister of Women, Family, and Community Development, called out both Zahidi and Abdul Rahim for cyberbullying a student.
“If you don’t recognize it – this is actually cyberbullying in action. By two deputy ministers. Against a young child,” she wrote on Twitter.
Other stories to check out:
Another politician disputes Veveonah’s exams, calling her ‘dramatic’
Teacher, classmates defend ‘tree challenge’ YouTuber falsely accused of faking exam
Sabah student who climbed tree for internet receives scholarship
Sabah student breaks the Internet after climbing hill, tree for Wi-Fi signal to take exams
