Fadillah (third right) presenting a tablet to a student during a ceremony at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak. – Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi
KUCHING (Oct 26): The government is still negotiating with airline companies on increasing flight frequencies and lowering ticket prices for the coming 15th General Election, said caretaker Works Minister Dato Sri Fadillah Yusof.
He noted that the flight ticket price seemed to have come down after rounds of negotiation but it was still deemed overly expensive for a one-way ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Sarawak.
“Right now, the most important is the negotiations with the airline companies. I was informed the current ticket price is still quite expensive, with one-way ticket using Malaysia Airlines priced at about RM550 and AirAsia at around RM300,” he said.
He said this to the press when asked on the matter after distributing tablets to students under the ‘Peranti Siswa Keluarga Malaysia’ programme at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) today.
Fadillah, who is Petra Jaya incumbent Member of Parliament, said the state government could not sponsor the return of Sarawakian students back home to vote as it might be considered as an offence under the election laws.
“That’s why I prefer to encourage other people to sponsor our Sarawakian students in Peninsular Malaysia to come back and we will then assist in facilitating their return,” he said.
Besides, Fadillah doubted whether there will be enough flights to transport Sarawakians home, since tertiary students have been given a five-day leave starting Nov 17 to return home to vote in the coming 15th General Election on Nov 19.
“If tens of thousands of university students are coming home to vote, the question is whether there are enough flights for the five days. These are the things that we are still discussing with airline companies,” he said.
On a separate note, the caretaker minister urged university students to refrain from selling their tablets sponsored by the federal government as the devices are pre-installed with software to be disabled if they are sold to third parties.