Malaysian Wins Phone Service

While cameras rolled and reporters watched, Telecommunications Minister Leo Moggie dialed Malaysia’s one-millionth phone subscriber to say congratulations but got a wrong number, the Malay Mail reported Friday.

The minister was supposed to dial the phone number of a schoolteacher in a remote one-street town in the East Malaysian state of Sarawak, but instead a startled policeman answered his call.

On the second try, Moggie got the number right and told Ulak Anak Baji of Lubuk Antu on the Sarawak-Kalimantan border that the Telecommunications Ministry was honoring Malaysia’s one-millionth subscriber with a year’s rent-free use of the phone.

Ulak, whose line was connected on World Telecoms Day, May 17, said he needed the phone because his wife is pregnant and “having a phone helps calm the jitters should the unexpected happen,” the paper reported.