Zuraida says Oxford-grad Khairy living on another planet

PKR lawmaker says university students living on RM5 a day for meals is a reality and more should be done by the government to help them cope.

KUALA LUMPUR: University students from poor families having only RM5 per day for food is a reality and it is up to the government to ensure that these students are provided with proper meals daily, pleaded Ampang MP Zuraida Kamaruddin in a statement.

“I do not know how Umno Youth Chief Khairy Jamaluddin came to the conclusion that reports of starving students have been ‘sensationalised and not reflective of their general state of finances’.”

“Khairy sounds like this was the first time that he had heard of such a problem when in actual fact, poverty among students has been there all along, and it’s much worse now.”

He must be living on another planet and does not realise the gravity of the situation, she added. “Being an Oxford graduate, he probably cannot relate to the suffering of local university students.”

She said these students were the country’s future and they shouldn’t have to starve or subsist on bread or cup noodles as these were not nutrient-rich foods.

How many people can actually cope with the high living costs and price hikes implemented by the government, she asked, adding that at a time when most Malaysians were struggling with the increase in prices and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), it was no wonder that students were the ones who suffered most.

“The Barisan Nasional (BN) government should help these needy students for the sake of our future generations.”