KLANG, 17 Dec: The giving of RM200 vouchers for the ‘Back to School Jom Shopping’ Programme for children of Selangor which was widely disseminated through the Short Messaging System (SMS) and the ‘Whatsapp’ application since yesterday is fake.
Thus, the Executive Councillor in charge of Education, Higher Education and Human Capital Development, Dr halimah Ali, hopes that the public, especially parents, are not influenced by this slanderous message which is deliberately played by certain irresponsible quarters.
“This irresponsible SMS is being deliberately troublesome and confusing to all parties as well as disappointing parents, especially those earning a low wage.
“Due to it, all 56 DUN (State Legislative Assemblies) and Parliamentarian’s Offices were flooded by calls from the people regarding the allegation of the voucher giving,” she said.
Since yesterday, the SMS announcing he giving of the RM200 voucher to buy school necessities that was supposedly from the Selangor Government under the Education, Higher Education and Human Capital Development Committee, was widely disseminated.
The conditions being that the recipient need to be students from Standard 1 to Upper Form 6 and they only need to bring their identification card and be present with their parents (Selangor voters) to redeem the voucher at all small supermarkets except MyDin and Kedai1Malaysia.
The SMS also informed that vouchers can be collected at all DUN Service Centres starting from 16 December to 28 December.
Selangor Kini understands that the Community Service Centre (PKM) for the Selat Klang DUN made a police report at about 11pm yesterday after finding out about the slanderous SMS.
“There were several clear discrepancies found in the SMS. The Selangor Government does not use the term ‘Pengajian Tinggi’ (Higher Education) and instead uses ‘Pendidikan Tinggi’ (Higher Learning) for the education portfolio.
“The phone numbers of officers in the SMS was also inaccurate because it was the phone number of the Selat Klang DUN PKM, and not the phone number of the officer from the Education Exco’s office.
“The Selangor Government did not make an official announcement about the giving of the RM200 voucher. Instead, it is only giving RM30 to families earning a low wage to buy school shoes at BATA,” she said.
She said this during a press conference at the Selat Klang DUN PKM today. Also present was the Member of Parliament for Kapar, Manivanan Gowin and the Selat Klang DUN PKM officer.
Meanwhile, Manivanan Gowin, who is also a lawyer, deems the dissemination of the slanderous SMS as being aimed at tarnishing the Selangor Government administration led by Pakatan Rakyat.
“It seemed to be from the Selangor Government. The words, except for MyDin and Kedai1Malaysia, was deliberately linked to make it seem like the Pakatan Rakyat Government is anti or boycotts supermarkets that are linked to the Federal Government.
“It so happens that today, the Selat Klang PKM handed vouchers (RM30-School Shoes) and the SMS was spread yesterday. So, it seems to be cleverly planned to tarnish the State Government and Dr Halimah,” said Manivanan.
