DAP representatives have questioned the federal government’s decision to discontinue the MyDistress mobile emergency services application for Selangor residents, even though a much-touted replacement application has yet to be officially rolled out.

NONE DAP'sDamansara Utama assemblyperson Yeo Bee Yin ( left ) pointed out that despite discontinuing MyDistress in view of the introduction of SaveMe999, a nationwide application, the new application has not yet been rolled out, leaving Selangor residents with no emergency application to fall back on.

“Now, with MyDistress scrapped and SaveMe999 still unavailable, the public is left with no emergency mobile application. Why such a hurry to stop MyDistress while SaveMe999 has yet to come online?” Yeo asked in a statement yesterday.

She also pointed out that MyDistress has been a huge success among Selangorians, having been downloaded 201,146 times so far.

Kulai MP Teo Nie Ching, also of the DAP), meanwhile, in a separate statement today, cast doubts on  the cost-effectiveness of this new exercise.

“MyDistress was developed by a local company without any charges in fulfilment of their corporate social responsibility. On the other hand, SaveMe999 was developed by the Communication and Multimedia Ministry at a cost of almost RM1 billion,” she said, questioning why a free application was being replaced with an application which cost nearly RM1 billion.

“Secondly, SaveMe999 was developed through the Malaysian Emergency Response System MERS 999, a system that was developed by Telekom Malaysa Berhad (TM) at a cost of RM801.55 million,” Teo said.

She said that according to the 2012 Auditor-General’s Report, TM had overpaid by RM27.59 million for the MERS 999 system, and also that 32.4 percent of calls made to its emergency number had been unanswered.

“It is imperative for the home affairs minister to explain to the public why MyDistress, an award-winning application, was replaced by a nearly RM1 billion system which has yet to prove its effectiveness?” she asked.