Warisan rep urges Sabah state govt to provide airfare subsidies for students

KOTA KINABALU, April 18 — The Gabungan Rakyat Sabah government needs to do more to address the issue of expensive airfares between the Peninsula and Sabah, a Warisan assemblyman said today.

Sri Tanjung assemblyman Justin Wong said that the Gabungan Parti Sarawak government has been helping its people by initiating subsidies for students traveling home during the festive holidays.

“GPS had at least initiated the i-GPS airfare subsidy which would provide RM300 subsidy for students registered with higher learning institutions in the Peninsula and Labuan to return to Sarawak for Hari Raya.

“The GRS government cannot just sit and watch while Sabahans suffer like this every year. The Sabah government has not been taking any action nor expressed their stance on this problem,” he said in a statement.

Wong said the Sabah GRS government should emulate Sarawak and provide airfare subsidies, especially for those flying from Peninsula to Tawau.

He questioned the state government for its silence over expensive flight tickets from Kuala Lumpur to Sabah during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri and school holiday period which has become a perennial issue, especially during festive seasons.

He said that although the Transport Ministry had approved six domestic airlines to operate 527 additional flights during the Hari Raya period, the airfares had gone up instead of down.

“Just look at the air ticket from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau, it is costly for less than an hour’s flight. This is because some had no alternative but to fly from KK to KL and then to Tawau.

“In contrast, flight tickets within the peninsula, from Kuala Lumpur to Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang or Johor, even if purchased at the last minute, are much cheaper than those in Sabah,” he said.

“Just look at the air ticket from Kota Kinabalu to Tawau, it costs thousands of ringgits for less than an hour’s flight. In contrast, flight tickets from Kuala Lumpur in West Malaysia to Kelantan, Terengganu, Penang, or Johor, even if purchased at the last minute, are at least half cheaper than those in Sabah,” he said.

Wong said during this festive season, people from Tawau working in Peninsula not only have to pay expensive airfares, but they waste a lot of time transiting between cities.

For example, he said, one of his constituents working in Johor had to fly to Kuala Lumpur, and then to Kota Kinabalu, stayed a night, and then fly to Sandakan, then to Tawau due to insufficient flight available.

Wong also stressed that the dispute between Transport Minister Anthony Loke and former Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong is not helping the people in Tawau as their argument does not end up with a solution for people who could not return to their hometown for Hari Raya.