STUDENT DISCOUNT CARD: Rohani presents the discount card to one of the students while (from left) Heskin, Empiang and Nansian look on.
KUCHING: The Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism may consider the suggestion to include Malaysian students studying part-time or overseas in the second phase of the distribution of the 1Malaysia Student Discount Card.
Its deputy minister Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim said the ministry had taken note of the suggestion and were still considering the matter.
She said at the moment only Malaysians studying full-time at institutions of higher learning in the country were eligible for the discount card.
“We understand that part-time students and students studying overseas also need the cards like the full-time students.
“If approved, the cards will be distributed to all Malaysian students next year,” she told a press conference after officiating at the symbolic presentation of the cards to 2,681 students of Swinburne University here yesterday.
The university is the first private higher learning institution in the state and the third in the country to receive the discount cards.
Rohani, who is also Batang Lupar MP, said that that since the launch of the discount card, her ministry had received many feedbacks and suggestions from students.
“All the feedbacks and suggestions will be considered. The ministry has no problem extending the cards’ validity period taking into account that some students might require longer period to complete their studies.”
She added that as of September this year, the ministry had distributed the discount cards to all public institutions of
higher learning in the country and were in the process of distributing them to private institutions of higher learning.
“We have some 780 private institutions in the country and 40 of them are in Sarawak. So far, we have distributed 565,002 cards to students in 592 private institutions which represents 76 per cent of the total number of students,” she added.
On the remaining 188 private institutions, Rohani believed they were in the process of finalising students’ details before submitting the list to the ministry.
“We are working closely with the student affairs department of all private institutions of higher learning in the country for the issuance of discount cards,” she said.
Rohani said her ministry was targeting 1.5 million full-time students in both public and private institutions of higher learning to apply for the cards.
“Students can enjoy discounts for all their necessities in 118 premises throughout the country. We are also getting more hypermarkets and franchises to participate in the programme,” she said.
Among present during the function were Assistant Minister of Industrial Estate Development Datuk Peter Nansian, a member of Swinburne board of director Dato Sri Empiang Jabu, pro
vice-chancellor and chief executive Prof Ken Heskin, chief operating officer Dr Andrew Smith, Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism state director Wan Ahmad Uzir Wan Sulaiman and Bank Rakyat (Satok Branch) manager Azman Abd Aziz.