Veveonah was having her exams at time of video, confirms UMS

KOTA KINABALU: Veveonah Mosibin was taking her university examinations online around the time her viral video was posted, confirms Datuk Masidi Manjun.

Masidi, who was recently appointed as chairman of Universiti Malaysia Sabah's board of directors in August this year, made the clarification via Twitter on Tuesday (Sept 8).

Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin, in the Dewan Negara on Sept 3, accused the Pitas native of lying about her examinations to gain fame as a YouTuber.

Veveonah denied this and posted her online exam schedule from June 9 to 12 on Twitter.

Zahidi apologised for his mistake and said he would rectify his comment.

However, on Monday (Sept 7), Zahidi said it was Kudat MP Datuk Abdul Rahim Bakri who gave him the wrong information, who had in turn received the information from a "professor".

Rahim himself then disputed Veveonah in a Facebook post on Monday, continuing the line that she had done it for YouTube fame.

He claimed that there was no final exam held online by UMS during that time, and it was just a “normal online lecture”, saying he got the information from a lecturer, whom he did not name. Rahim deleted his post soon after.

"After meeting the UMS Deputy Vice Chancellor and Pusat Asasi Sains director today (Sept 8), I would like to confirm that Veveonah Mosibin sat for her final semester exams (online) from June 9 to June 12,2020.

"She is an exemplary student and has been offered to do a marine science degree course in UMS," Masidi tweeted at 5.33pm.

When asked about the "university dean" who claimed that Veveonah did not take the examinations online, the Karanaan assemblyman explained it was a misquote.

"He only said there were no exams for students pursuing degree courses. Only for those doing science foundation courses," said Masidi in reply.

On June 24, UMS Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Taufiq Yap Yun Hin announced that the 18-year-old had been offered a scholarship to pursue her bachelor's degree at the university, after completing her Foundation in Science course.

A commenter named mr.F tweeted that if he was Veveonah, he would demand for both the deputy minister and the MP to try climbing a tree to post their apologies online, which received a "Ha ha ha" response from Masidi.

However, when commenter iSam' asked what action could be taken against the two politicians, for what could be construed as cyberbullying, Masidi said he was in no position to respond as he was not their "boss", adding he had made mistakes himself.

"One can actually profit from their mistakes if they learn from it," said the Sabah Bersatu deputy chief.