Search for internet: From tree-top to broken bones

Ranau native Veveonah Mosibin gained national attention after she climbed a tree in order to get internet signal for her online examination but less than six months later, such struggles appear to have been forgotten.

Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang lamented that it had to take a collapsed bridge and children with broken bones to once again remind the government about the internet woes in Sabah, particularly in Ranau.

This was after several students suffered serious injuries when the suspension bridge they climbed on to search for an internet signal collapsed. Eight students were on the same bridge for their online class.

A student broke bones in her thigh while another suffered spinal injuries in the Nov 23 incident.

"Veveonah gained national celebrity status and, from a girl on a treetop, she became a Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) scholarship student and even had dinner with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin during the Sabah state general election in September," said Lim.

"But has the prime minister resolved the poor infrastructure problem, especially internet connectivity during the Covid-19 epidemic when schools are closed and classes have gone online?

"The collapse of the suspension bridge in Kampong Gusi, Ranau is a clear answer of 'No'.

"The promise of faster action and more money to close the digital divide in Sabah, Sarawak, and Peninsular Malaysia so that no Malaysian student needs to spend 24 hours on a tree-top or crowd with other students on a rickety suspension bridge in a remote kampong to get better Internet connectivity has still to be resolved," Lim said in a statement.

The DAP lawmaker said the bridge collapse was an indictment of the Education Ministry, Communications and Multimedia Ministry, and Sabah government.

Lim said the government should launch a state-wide survey to ensure such accidents, simply to get an internet signal, do not happen again.

He also suggested that Veveonah be allowed to lead such a survey.

Lim said the Kampung Gusi bridge incident should serve as a reminder to Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor about his promise to solve the problem of poor internet infrastructure in Sabah as well as the issues of illiteracy, poverty, and corruption.