PKR Wanita chief Zuraida Kamaruddin said a minister graduating from an elite institution such as Oxford University would not be able to relate to the pain of local university students.
She said this in reference to Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin who downplayed reports that students were going hungry in public universities, calling them "sensational".
"Being an Oxford graduate, he probably cannot relate to the sufferings of the local university students.
"Poor university students who have only RM5 per day for meals are a reality and it is up to the government to ensure that these students are provided with proper meals daily," she said in a statement today.
Zuraida, who is also Ampang MP, said poverty among students has always been a problem and has worsened due to the rising cost of living such as the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
"We cannot allow our students to live on bread and cup noodles only as they do not provide enough nutrients for the body," she added.
Monthly allowances
Meanwhile, PAS' Kuala Nerus MP Khairuddin Aman Razali proposed that the federal or state government provide RM100 monthly allowances to university students.
He noted that based on the National Education Statistics: Higher Education Sector 2013 report, there are a total of 531,533 students in public universities.
"This means the government will only need to allocate RM637.8 million a year and will be even lower if its allowances are only extended to diploma and undergraduate students.
"This amount is not large if compared to the various ineffective and wasteful spending by the government as seen in the National Audit Report," he said in a statement today.
He added that a fund can only be set up to help finance the monthly allowances by accepting contributions from corporations and charitable foundations.
"If entertainment, cultural or sports programmes can get millions of ringgit of sponsorship, I am confident there are those who are willing to sponsor students who are important national assets," he said.
