PUTRAJAYA: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister said today that Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail had never approved the text of the speech that was delivered at the launch of the Enhanced Malaysia International Internet Gateway (EM-IIG) High-Speed Broadband project in Shah Alam today.
It said in a statement that Dr Wan Azizah had also not delegated anyone to read out the text of the speech at the event.
It also said that Dr Wan Azizah had never at all said that the government would extend its full cooperation to the implementation of the EM-IIG project.
“News reports quoting the Deputy Prime Minister in relation to the EM-IIG project developed by XiddiG Cellular Communications Sdn Bhd are not true,“ it said.
The office of the Deputy Prime Minister also warned all organisations against using or distributing the content of the text of the speech in the name of the Deputy Prime Minister without permission.
“Using the name of the Deputy Prime Minister without her permission is a serious matter,” it said, adding that stern action would be taken if such a situation recurred.
According to media reports, the text of the speech of the Deputy Prime Minister was read out by the Deputy Speaker of the Dewan Rakyat, Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon, at the launch of the EM-IIG project at a hotel in Shah Alam.
The reports said the RM5.45-billion project encompassed the installation of the world’s largest fibre optic network involving a 110,000-km line that would enable Malaysia to have the fastest Internet access speed with the 5G platform in Southeast Asia by 2022.
In another development, Dewan Rakyat’s Deputy Speaker Datuk Mohd Rashid Hasnon, who had read out the speech text of Wan Azizah, has reportedly threatened to file a legal suit against the organiser for allegedly misleading him over the event.
Rashid said that he was invited to the launch of the event due to his previous role as the deputy chief minister of Penang from 2013 until last year before he went on to contest in Johor.
He was later appointed as the Deputy Speaker.
Rashid arrived early at the event because he was expecting Wan Azizah to speak but he was later informed by the organisers that she could not attend and he was given her speech text to read instead.
“I was given a speech text by the organiser as a reference. I strongly deny that I was representing the deputy prime minister at the ceremony. Any claims that I represented the deputy prime minister is intended to confuse,” he said. — Bernama
