KUALA LUMPUR – The government does not pay to broadcast daily text messages by the National Security Council (NSC) on information pertaining to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Special Functions Minister Datuk Abdul Latiff Ahmad told the Dewan Rakyat in a written parliamentary reply that the cost has been absorbed fully by the respective telecommunication service providers.
This, he said, is part of the companies’ corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts.
“This initiative started on February 26, 2020. Up to August 27 this year, a total of 335 SMSes have been sent to around 38.6 million telecommunication customers.
“The service providers did not impose any charge for their SMS service on the basis of CSR,” he said in his reply on Wednesday.
Latiff was responding to Hannah Yeoh (Segambut-PH) question about the amount allocated for the SMS broadcast since the start of the pandemic, as well as parties involved and the process to determine what content is pushed out.
According to the minister, the messages are chosen and determined by the NSC, Health Ministry, Prime Minister’s Department and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).
They are based on major decisions that are made during NSC meetings as well as on the pandemic situation at the time, he said.
“The content of the text messages that have been finalised and agreed upon by all quarters will be distributed by MCMC to the telecommunication service providers, to be delivered to consumers according to the set date.”
Presently, Latiff said, 13 telecommunication companies are involved in offering the free service, namely, Celcom, Digi, Maxis, Umobile, Altel, Webe, Tune Talk, Pavocomms, YTL, XOX, Redtone, Red One and Merchantrade.
Other than text messages, the government also shares pandemic-related information through social media and television and radio broadcasts, he added.
This is the first time Yeoh has sought clarification on the issue, having brought up the matter in a Parliament press conference on July 28.
Then, the DAP lawmaker told the NSC off for what she described as an “abuse of its daily SMS broadcast” for sharing “useless information” to the public, saying the platform should be better utilised to educate and provide awareness on Covid-19.
“I feel the platform is not being utilised responsibly. It’s a waste to send so many rhetorical messages until it feels like nagging SMSes. I believe many today don’t even read (the messages). They will look at them and just ignore them.
“The SMSes now appear like the good morning messages you get from your relatives,” she had said. – The Vibes, October 8, 2021
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