With fares soaring, 5-day ‘election leave’ pointless, say student groups

 

Caretaker transport minister Wee Ka Siong says Mavcom will monitor air fares during the election period, but prices are already surging.

PETALING JAYA: The five-day leave for university students to cast their votes in the general election (GE15) is pointless with the surge in prices of flight tickets to East Malaysia, say two student groups in Sabah.

Markas Siswa Siswi Islam Sabah (Marsis) and Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam SeMalaysia Sabah (Gamis) said university students could not afford the high air fares, and would not be able to return home to vote.

They lamented the lack of a concrete plan to address this issue, particularly from the Sabah government, adding that this was a recurring issue.

“We hope that an agreement can be made with airlines to resolve this issue so that students can exercise their responsibility as voters and benefit from the five-day leave provided,“ they said in a joint statement.

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Last week, transport minister Wee Ka Siong said the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) will regulate air fares to ensure that airlines do not hike prices arbitrarily ahead of GE15.

He said although air fares would normally increase according to the dynamic pricing mechanism, Mavcom would take action if airlines were found to have raised prices against the conditions set by the authorities.

Flight ticket prices have increased after the Election Commission (EC) set Nov 19 for polling, with some netizens saying air fares had more than doubled to fly from the peninsula to East Malaysia.

Checks by FMT today found that one could purchase a round-ticket from KLIA to Kota Kinabalu or Kuching for about RM600, for a flight departing on Nov 18 and returning on Nov 20.

The higher education ministry has agreed to give students in all higher learning institutions five days’ leave from Nov 17 to return home to vote. - FMT