Netizen Rally Behind Veveonah Mosibin after KKMM’s deputy minister claim

The following graph shows the network related to Veveonah Mosibin – the Sabahan student who previously went viral for taking an exam on a tree – on the first day the issue erupted.

As observed in the SNA above, there are nine clusters in total.

@Syed Saddiq appears as the epicenter of the network, being the main influencer on this day; and his audiences were related to the other clusters.

The controversy surrounding the Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) student make up Syed Saddiq’s top issue in the past week, accumulating the highest traction under the banner “ambil nama” and “kadang-kadang”.

Veveonah’s controversy even out shadowed Syed Saddiq’s new party following Tun Mahathir’s claim that the former’s party will not succeed.

Syed Saddiq’s tweet on Veveonah on September 3 drove high engagement and interaction rate, with almost 13,000 retweets and almost 12,000 likes, at once expanding the intensity of the issue beyond the deputy minister’s claim.

Additionally, others have also jumped into the bandwagon to show support towards Veveonah including UMS students claiming that there was really an exam on that day.

Veveonah became viral when she posted YouTube videos of herself taking her tests on a tree as that was among the few places near her house in rural Sabah that could reached Internet access.

At the time, her video titled ‘24 Hours on Tree’ gained positive reactions from netizens who saw her as an inspiration.

However, in September, her issue was plucked out of the air when Deputy Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin claimed in Parliament that there was no exam taken, and that she was doing it for the views, being a Youtuber herself.