Telecasting live the 2018 World Cup live on RTM will benefit all Malaysians especially those in the rural areas of Sarawak who cannot afford satellite television, says Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii.

Yi said this in response to state assistant youth and sports minister Snowdan Lawan, who called the government’s decision to show the matches on the state broadcaster a waste of money.

“Firstly, not everyone is as privileged to be able to afford any form of satellite TV network such as Astro in their homes.

“In order to enjoy such facilities, each household will need to pay up to a few hundred ringgit a month which may be out of reach for most underprivileged families and the poor, especially those living in the rural communities here, in Sarawak,” Yii said in a statement today.

“So are we then to deprive them of this opportunity just because they cannot afford Astro? Is he aware that a big chunk of the benefactors of this initiative are Sarawakians ourselves?

“Based on the statistics by the Sarawak government, we have an estimate of only about 193,000 Astro subscribers in the state. This is out of a population of about 2.77 million people in Sarawak,” he added.

Yii also pointed out that as the assistant minister of youth and sports, Lawan should be encouraging youth-centric initiatives, such as promoting such world-class sports events.

“This is beneficial not just for the youth, but also to the people of Sarawak who can gather together as a family or in social groups to enjoy the live telecasts via RTM which has a wider reach.”

The initiative, Yii added, would also have the added benefit of revamping RTM, which became known over the years as a BN propaganda machine.

He said the initiative to telecast the matches live would also see the state broadcaster become more commercially viable.

“This was proven when Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng announced that the cost of RM30 million for the live matches has been fully covered through sponsors and advertisements.

“While I welcome Lawan’s concerns for our financial status in our country, but the irony is he was quiet and fully supportive of a kleptocrat and also a government that was stealing billions from the people for their personal interest, which plunged us into this financial difficulty in the first place,” he added.