KUCHING: Rumah Sarawak Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak Volunteers are giving their best to help Sarawakian students stranded in Peninsular Malaysia since the implementation of the movement control order (MCO) on March 18.
On April 19, four Sarawakian students of Alor Gajah National Youth Advance Skills Institute (IKTBN) in Melaka were reported stranded in Kelantan following the MCO.
Lika Doris Guang, 24; Dally Angkang Joseph, 25; Siti Noraziera Ramlee, 24, and Betty Bulan Ambrose, 24, have been in Kelantan for nearly a month now after they followed their friend Siti Afifah Aina Shukri, 23, home to Kampung Bator in Jelawat on March 19.
Siti Noraziera said they decided to follow their friend as it was only a one-week semester break and the flight tickets to Sarawak were also expensive.
“We did not expect the MCO would cause us to be stranded here this long,” she told national news agency Bernama.
In a news report, Ministry of Youth and Sports Training Institutions (ILKBS) alumni president Samsudin Oli Mohamed said the Youth Skills Development Department and the Alor Gajah IKTBN had decided to place the students at the Bachok IKTBN campus.
“Currently, all students are away for holiday and the cafe is closed, so we are trying to provide the necessities to these students,” he said.
Sarawak Volunteers advisor Fazzruddin Abdul Rahman said they had assisted the four Sarawakians yesterday by giving cash to buy one week worth of provisions.
Asked whether Rumah Sarawak Kuala Lumpur and Sarawak Volunteers had any plans to bring the students home for Aidilfitri and Gawai, Fazzruddin said they were in the midst of collecting student data.
“…such as which IPTA, IPTS, and training centre and the location of their hometown, as they are also communicating with Malaysia Airlines, Malindo Air and AirAsia to discuss on the flights if the need arises to bring them home.
“Besides that, we are also collecting data of Peninsular students studying in Sarawak, to be included in the flight plans, to make the cost of the flights to Sarawak more feasible as there will also be load going back to Semenanjung,” he told New Sarawak Tribune.
Besides that, Fazzruddin also added that it all depended on the current situation, advice from the Ministry of Health and the State Disaster Management Committee.
“The safety of the students are our utmost priority in any plan or strategy.”
