Unimas students to receive discount cards this month

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KOTA SAMARAHAN: Some 14,000 students of Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) will receive their 1Malaysia student discount card (KADS1M) this month.

Unimas is the 13th institution of higher learning in the country to distribute the discount card after its launching by Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin last July 2.

To commemorate the event, a symbolic presentation ceremony was held at the university’s student pavilion here yesterday which was officiated by Natural Resources and Environment Minister Dato Sri Douglas Uggah Embas, who is also the mentor minister of Unimas.

He presented the card to 20 selected students.

“The days of government knows best is over. To chart a good future for the people, inclusivity is the government’s philosophy of today. The government has always strived to create a conducive learning environment on campus.

“The implementation of the student discount card shows that the government is open and ever willing to look into forums and listen to suggestions brought up by our higher learning students,” said Uggah in his speech.

Unimas vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Khairuddin Abdul Hamid, state Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism director Wan Ahmad Uzir Wan Sulaiman and representatives from Bank Rakyat were also present.

Uggah advised students not to abuse the card which was meant to ease their living expenses.

Khairuddin, who also spoke at the event, believed that the initiative would help to ease the financial burden of students and make them more focussed on their studies without having to worry about financial problems.

As of yesterday, he said, some 10,700 cards were ready for distribution.

Khairuddin also noted that Unimas registered the highest number of new student intakes nationwide this year, which totalled to 4,500.

KADS1M is basically a flash card which does not offer reward points.

Students only need to show their KADS1M together with their student card or MyKad to enjoy their discounts.

The idea of the discount card was first initiated at the National Student Council Meeting on Nov 21 last year.

The programme was implemented by MTDCC.

Participating companies and Bank Rakyat which produced the card had realised the initiative through their corporate social responsibility programme.

KADS1M, providing discounts from two per cent to 60 per cent on selected products and services at participating companies, will benefit about 1.5 million students of institutions of higher learning throughout the country.

Sarawak has 117 outlets owned by 14 companies participating in the programme.

In total, the whole nation has 2,414 participating outlets.