KUALA LUMPUR – Another Twitter user has been detained by police for raising questions over the RM70 million government allocation to develop a system for the national vaccination drive.
The man was arrested at the Wangsa Maju police station this evening after being quizzed over his tweet that was posted in May.
He is being investigated under Section 4(1) of the Emergency (Essential Powers) (No. 2) Ordinance 2021 for spreading fake news.
Police have also issued an order under Section 6 of the same law for the individual to remove the offending tweet within 24 hours.
His lawyer, Rajsurian Pillai, told The Vibes that his client will be spending the night at the Dang Wangi police headquarters before police apply for a remand order tomorrow.
The man’s mobile phone has also been confiscated.
Rajsurian said police contacted the 30-year-old netizen yesterday, asking him to present himself at the Wangsa Maju station today.
In his tweet on May 29, the man alleged that the RM70 million allocated for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme system was not spent on MySejahtera.
Instead, he claimed, the responsibility of developing the site was pushed to a civil servant for free.
“So, where actually did the RM70 million go?” he tweeted, sharing screenshots of a Facebook post.
In the Facebook post, a woman alleged that an information technology assistant officer working for the government was instructed to develop the website in two days.
She claimed that the government had spent millions on the site, which is “totally wrong”. The post is believed to have since been deleted.
It is not immediately known if she had also been hauled up by police.
The arrest of the Twitter user today is the second time an individual has been detained for questioning the RM70 million government allocation.
Early last month, a computer equipment salesman was arrested for allegedly posting a tweet on May 29 regarding the MySejahtera app and Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee website that could cause public distress.
The application and website have consistently drawn flak from the public over multiple issues plaguing them, with many questioning the cost of RM70 million allocated for the system.
The vaccination drive’s coordinating minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, has since denied that the government spent the whole amount on the committee’s website, claiming that the figure is the ceiling budget.
He said the RM70 million, which has not been fully utilised, is meant to run the entirety of the system, from integrating the MySejahtera app with the Health Ministry system to vaccine logistics. – The Vibes, July 23, 2021
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