Zafrul’s aide to lodge police report over ex-Perdana Fellow fiasco

PETALING JAYA – Thrust into the spotlight after several Instagram screenshots went viral on a former Perdana Fellow with suspicious credentials, a minister’s aide said she will be lodging a police report over the matter.

International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) director of media and strategic communications Suria Zainal, who is currently overseas for official duties, said on X (formerly Twitter) that she will do so upon her return.

I never said this, and will make a police report as soon as I am back from my overseas official duties on 27 September 2023.

For the record, following the official announcement by YB @hannahyeoh last week, that particular Perdana Fellow is no longer with MITI.

— Suria Zainal (@suria_zainal) September 18, 2023

Suria's name came up yesterday after a Twitter account, @BN4everTN50, shared a few Instagram screenshots purportedly made by a former Perdana Fellow, Muhammad Azhar Ali.

Azhar made headlines last week after netizens scrutinised his credentials and discovered various discrepancies concerning his list of achievements.

The Perdana Fellowship programme, under the purview of the Youth and Sports Ministry, is made up of successful applicants who are placed at various ministries.

Miti had earlier announced on social media that it would be receiving two Perdana Fellows, one of whom is Azhar.

Netizens were quick to recall that Azhar had gone viral three years ago for his alleged Nasa scholarship offer, which turned out to be untrue.

Azhar, at the time, claimed he was the victim of an online scam after the matter went viral where even the prime minister at the time, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, congratulated him.

When Azhar resurfaced, netizens immediately began to investigate the list of achievements listed in the Perdana Fellow social media poster shared by Miti.

After many claimed that the achievements were dubious, the Youth and Sports Ministry issued a statement saying that based on its checks, it found that one certificate submitted by a Perdana Fellow was not genuine. 

The ministry informed in the same press statement the Perdana Fellow in question had been dropped from the programme and will be offered counselling.

While the Youth and Sports Ministry did not name the Perdana Fellow in their statement, it was safe to assume they were referring to Azhar.

As the issue appeared to have died down, it made waves again yesterday following the Twitter post made by @BN4everTN50.

The Instagram screenshots shared were alleged to have been made by Azhar under the name @azharsturtle. 

The account, however, is not available on Instagram, upon checking.

In the screenshot, Azhar had allegedly lamented his fate and shared a WhatsApp conversation between him and Suria, in which Suria had said: “YB has requested for you to come to Miti tomorrow and carry out as usual.”

In the conversation, Suria had also said that the statement issued by the Youth and Sports Ministry was just to keep the public quiet.

Netizens immediately scrutinised the screenshot and pointed out several issues, among them being that the messages did not share the same font. 

They had also raised spacing between one text and the next in the same screenshot.

This led many to believe the WhatsApp conversation had been doctored.

Suria today clarified the matter on her Twitter account.

“I would like to clarify that regarding the screenshot of my alleged conversation with a Perdana Fellow, the statement ‘KBS had to issue a statement to keep the public quiet. YB has requested for you to come to Miti tomorrow and carry out as usual’ is totally fabricated.

“I never said this, and will make a police report as soon as I am back from my overseas official duties on September 27.

“For the record, following the official announcement by YB @hannahyeoh last week, that particular Perdana Fellow is no longer with Miti,” she said.

It is, however, unclear as at press time if Azhar is the person behind the @azharsturtle Instagram account. – The Vibes, September 18, 2023