Kampung Malaing and Karamatoi Ulu village head, Jaffar Rapan, 62, said the Internet access through the Starlink system that was installed at Sekolah Kebangsaan Malaing greatly benefitted the villagers who previously had to go out as far as 40 kilometres from the village to be able to get Internet access.
Jaffar said that as the village head of the village, it was now easy for him to contact the relevant agencies for help during emergencies in the village, which is about 58 kilometres from Keningau town. Meanwhile, a teacher at SK Malaling, Ambrose Lahibob, 58, said the internet facility was very useful and greatly benefited the residents, especially the 31 students and 10 teachers at the school.
“At that time we were not able to seek the help of the fire department because there was no phone line and no internet. “At that time, many students walked and climbed hills for hours to find a sport where they could get Internet access to carry out online learning, but now, students no longer have to walk for hours because the government has provided free Internet facilities here,” he said.
“We used to have to walk two kilometres to the top of the hill, known as Bukit Online Kindasan’ to use the facility. Now we can go online even at home and contact anyone at any time,” he added.