YEE BLOW RAIS HEAD ON BROADBAND ISSUE

DEPUTY Chief Minister, Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai has criticised Information, Communications, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Rais Yatim for giving lip service in terms of improving broadband penetration in Sabah.

Dr Yee, who is also State Resource Development and Information Technology Minister, said Rais had been saying that Sabah's broadband penetration was still the lowest in the country but at the same time continued to ignore the State's request for assistance.

"He knows about this but he pretended not to we have been telling him about it," he said, Saturday.

Dr Yee said he had personally flown to Kuala Lumpur to meet up with Rais to discuss ways to improve the broadband penetration in Sabah.

"During the meeting he (Rais) said okay but after that nothing was done," he said, adding that he was dissatisfied with the way the Federal Ministry works which is tantamount to being arrogant.

Up to April this year, Sabah's broadband penetration rate was still the lowest in the country.

Actually, Dr Yee said, Rais' Ministry had a target that is to boost the rate in Sabah by 30 per cent last year but until today this had not been achieved.

In this respect, he said Rais should not just wash his hands and blame Sabah for not doing enough to improve the situation. He said it was the State's aspiration to ensure that the people in Sabah also enjoy the best broadband services.

"Rais should instead instruct his men to work on how to improve the ICT services in Sabah and not simply shed his responsibility," he said.

Under the National Broadband Initiative, the nationwide broadband penetration rate was set at 50 per cent last year, which Malaysia has surpassed, but for Sabah a separate target of 30 per cent was set due to its slower growth (DE).