Unable to return for Raya

FOR MOST who celebrate it, Hari Raya signifies the joy of reuniting with friends and family, and indulging in traditional feasts, especially for those away from home.

However many Sabahans studying in Penang cannot afford to return home.

Despite the RM600 subsidy announcement by the Sabah government for Sabahans at higher education institutes in Peninsular Malaysia, Sarawak and Labuan, many consider the airfares to be still too expensive.

Ihira Samsudin, 21, who is studying at Universiti Sains Malaysia, won’t be returning to her hometown of Menggatal in Kota Kinabalu.

Ihira says the airfares are still too expensive for students, even with the government subsidy.“This will be the second year I will be away during Hari Raya,” she said.

“Even with the subsidy, the airfares are still too expensive for students,” she said during a buka puasa event with Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Nor at Setia SPICE Convention Centre.

Ihira said before the start of Ramadan, one-way airfares from Penang to Kota Kinabalu cost between RM800 and RM1,000 for the holiday period.

She said the fares would be even higher closer to Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

Another student, Nurul Nazeerah Elbis, 23, also said she would have to forgo celebrating Hari Raya with her family in Kota Kinabalu.

“This will be my second year celebrating Hari Raya with my friends on campus,” she said.

Nurul said she was sad at not being with her family and would miss Hari Raya delicacies such as buras and ayam palekok which are popular in her home state.

Asrul says cheap air tickets to return to Sabah would be unavailable now.The third-year student said she couldn’t afford to buy flight tickets now even with the subsidy offer as she only had enough money for her daily expenses.

Final-year student, Asrul Tamrin, 24, said the subsidy would be helpful for students, especially those from the B40 group.

He, however, said that with Hari Raya Aidilfitri being less than two weeks away, cheap air tickets would be unavailable.

“Low airfare tickets are limited and would have been grabbed earlier,” he said.

Asrul said he was not returning to his hometown of Tawau, preferring to prepare for his examinations in the middle of the year.

This will be the second year in a row he would be missing out on celebrating Hari Raya with his family, he said, adding that he would just have a video call with them on the eve of Hari Raya.

The event at Setia SPICE Convention Centre was attended by 1,400 students studying at institutions of higher education in the northern region of the peninsula.

In his speech, Hajiji said RM67.4mil had been allocated to Kumpulan Yayasan Sabah this year, aimed at enabling more students from Sabah to pursue their studies both locally and abroad.

Nurul Nazeerah says she can’t afford to buy flight tickets now even with the subsidy as she only has enough for her daily expenses.He said the fund was an increase from the RM53.8mil allocated last year, demonstrating the government’s commitment and efforts to enhance the quality of life and education standards for the people of Sabah.

“The education development agenda in Sabah has always been a priority of the state government, hence various empowerment assistance initiatives have been strengthened, including for children from B40 families to successfully continue their studies at higher education institutions,” he said.

Among these initiatives were the one-off cash assistance for registration at institutions of higher education (Budi) and the special examination cash assistance (Bakti).

The state government has also increased the Sabah State Government Scholarship funds from RM50mil to RM100mil for students pursuing tertiary studies.