KUCHING – The government is still negotiating with airline companies on increasing flight frequencies and lowering ticket prices for the 15th general election (GE15), said Petra Jaya incumbent Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof.
He said flight ticket prices seemed to have come down after rounds of negotiation, but a one-way ticket from Kuala Lumpur to Sarawak is still overly expensive.
“Right now, the most important thing is negotiating with the airline companies. I was informed the current ticket prices are still quite expensive, with a one-way ticket using Malaysia Airlines priced at about RM550 and AirAsia at around RM300.”
He said this to the press when asked on the matter after distributing tablets to students under the PerantiSiswa Keluarga Malaysia programme at Universiti Malaysia Sarawak today.
Fadillah said the state government could not sponsor the return of Sarawakian students back home to vote as it might be considered as an offence under election laws.
“That’s why I prefer to encourage other people to sponsor our Sarawakian students in Peninsular Malaysia to come back, and we will then assist in facilitating their return.”
Fadillah also doubted whether there would be enough flights for Sarawakians, since tertiary students have been given a five-day period of leave from November 17 to return home to vote on polling day on November 19.
“If tens of thousands of university students are coming home to vote, the question is whether there are enough flights for the five days. These are the things we are still discussing with the airline companies.”
On a separate matter, he urged university students to refrain from selling their tablets sponsored by the federal government as the devices are pre-installed with software that disables the device if sold to third parties. – Borneo Post Online, October 26, 2022
