With the news that Maxis, Celcom, TM and Google Classroom will be replacing YTL Communications and 1BestariNet as internet and VLE provider in schools, it was only a matter of time before we heard a statement from YTL Communications themselves. Today, the company issued a statement and what seemed like an innocuous news story is now looking like it could become the next episode of Gossip Girl.
In the press statement, YTL communications starts off by establishing that there have been some misconceptions and misleading news reports regarding the dismissal of YTL as the ISP for schools in Malaysia
Things go from 0-100 real quick right after though, with YTL, in their own words, stating the facts.
Apparently in July last year, the Ministry of Education announced a fresh tender would be called in early 2019 to continue providing internet connectivity to 10000 schools nationwide, which at the time was already being provided by YTL Communications.
On the 23rd of April this year and after repeated inquiries to the Ministry of Education on the status of the tender, the Ministry invited YTL Communications, along with TM, Celcom Axiata, Maxis and a few other ISPs to a meeting where they were basically informed that there would be a 6 month delay for a fresh tender, during which the 10,000 participating schools would require interim internet services. Oh but the Government wouldn’t be able to pay them as they simply don’t have the budget for it.
According to YTL, as responsible corporate citizens, they wrote in to Education Minister YB Maszlee Malik on the 31st of May saying that they’d do it for free for the duration of the interim period until the tender was awarded. Their primary concern being that teaching in schools should not be disrupted in the middle of a school year. Fair enough right?
Well, as it turns out, the Ministry never responded to their offer.
A month passes and surprise, surprise, news breaks that the interim services have been awared to TM, Celcom Axiata and Maxis. Not only had the Ministry excluded YTL communications, but also reneged on its statement to call on open tender whilst agreeing to pay the 3 ISPs in spite of the fact that they had offered the services for free.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Nothing adds to controversy like accusations of slander. A day after the announcement of the 3 chosen ISPs, the Facebook page “Friends of Maszlee Malik” posted an article entitled “7 reasons why the 1BestariNet project should be terminated.”
While it remains unclear if the article may be been using the Minister’s name without his knowledge, YTL communications insists that it contains points that are not only false but slanderous.
We’ve reached out to the Ministry of Education for comment but it’s safe to say that this story is far from over and could drag on into a full blown saga, and we all know what sagas do best..
They continue.
You can check out YTL Communications press statement in full here.
