In a Facebook post, Najib said the fund managed by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) was set up by Barisan Nasional, with major telcos contributing RM2 billion annually to it.

He said that about 60% of funding for the RM21.6 billion National Fiberisation and Connectivity Plan launched by Pakatan Harapan came from the MCMC fund, which the Perikatan Nasional government has said will continue with MCMC allocating RM7.4 billion for 2021 and 2022.

“(The year) 2022 isn’t here yet, so the funds from MCMC can be used to distribute two million computers and free internet packages for a year to students who have to attend online classes due to the pandemic.

“The cost for this is estimated to be about RM2 billion. This method was also used by the BN government to give 1.7 million 1Malaysia netbooks when I was prime minister. The funds also came from the MCMC fund.

“This is much fairer, beneficial and holistic compared to PN’s plan to dip into people’s savings such as EPF and PNB to fund the distribution of 150,000 computers worth RM150 million,” he said.

Najib said the government’s plan under the budget to distribute 150,000 computers was insufficient when millions of students needed the devices.

To recover the money in the MCMC fund, he said, PN could consider selling 5G spectrums through open tender, adding that this was also practised in other countries.

“PN cannot give 5G spectrums and licences quietly again without any tender after they were forced to U-turn when this was uncovered by the media last year,” he said.

This move, he said, was necessary as the government and Petronas’ financial strength has been affected by the previous PH administration and the current government’s fight against Covid-19.

He added that telcos would not protest as they would get the chance to increase their revenue with two million more customers through the year-long internet package distributed with the computers.