student leaders from all over australia and new zealand had a private meeting with out deputy prime minister yesterday. there ade lots of issue that we brought during the meeting. as myself, im fighting for a malaysian hall in perth. apart from that there are few other stuff that were i brought up during the meeting such as how the student here need MSD officer in perth. guess what i found in the paper today.


from berita harian,

Kerajaan kaji adakan Dewan Malaysia di Perth

PERTH: Kerajaan akan mengkaji permintaan pelajar dan masyarakat Malaysia di Perth untuk mengadakan sebuah Dewan Malaysia (Malaysia Hall) di Perth, kata Timbalan Perdana Menteri, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, hari ini.

Ketika bercakap kepada pemberita di akhir lawatan kerja lima hari ke Perth di sini, Muhyiddin yang juga Menteri Pelajaran berkata perkara itu telah ditimbulkan ketika lawatannya dan beliau akan meminta Pesuruhjaya Tinggi Malaysia di Australia, Datuk Salman Ahmad, dan Konsul-Jeneral Malaysia ke Australia Barat, Hamidah Ashari, menyediakan kertas kerja mengenainya.

"Untuk melihat mampu atau tidak (dari segi kos)...apakah kewajarannya. Kaji dan bawa balik pada saya," katanya.

Muhyiddin berkata, daripada satu sudut memang wajar bagi mengadakan Dewan Malaysia seperti itu kerana ramainya pelajar, khususnya yang menghadapi masalah tempat tinggal untuk beberapa hari setibanya di sini dan juga untuk mereka mahupun masyarakat Malaysia berkumpul atau mengadakan apa-apa majlis.

"Tempat untuk singgah...tinggal sehari dua, sebelum bersedia masuk universiti. Jadi ini pun kita kena teliti," katanya.

Muhyiddin berkata beliau telah meminta sekiranya boleh, jika cadangan itu direalisasikan, adalah baik jika bangunan yang disewa turut mempunyai ruang untuk disewa kepada rakyat Malaysia yang boleh menjalankan perniagaan restoran umpamanya agar pendapatan dari sewa itu boleh membantu menampung sewa bangunan dewan tersebut.

Katanya, kerajaan juga akan mengkaji satu lagi permintaan pelajar iaitu agar ditempatkan semula pegawai penuntut Malaysia di Perth, yang sememang ada sehinggalah krisis ekonomi 1997.

Pada masa ini, katanya, ada kira-kira 3,000 pelajar Malaysia di Perth dan mereka berpendapat adalah mudah untuk menangani sebarang masalah pelajar dan pendidikan jika permintaan itu dilaksanakan.

"Saya telah minta Konsul-Jeneral bagaimana wajar ditempatkan (pegawai ini). Walaupun kerajaan nak turunkan perbelanjaan (akibat kegawatan ekonomi global) tetapi kita akan meneliti dan kaji cadangan ini. Kalau sesuai akan diwujudkan (semula)," katanya.

Kerajaan juga, katanya, akan meneliti permintaan pelajar lepasan ijazah dan guru yang dihantar untuk pengajian lanjutan ke Australia yang memberitahu bahawa jumlah biasiswa yang diberikan tidak mencukupi kerana ia hanya diberikan untuk tempoh tiga tahun, tetapi pengajian mereka mengambil masa antara tiga setengah hingga empat tahun.

Muhyiddin berkata, pelajar Malaysia turut membangkitkan masalah tidak mendapat konsesi pengangkutan di Australia kerana pelajar antarabangsa tidak diberikan konsesi itu menyebabkan mereka terpaksa menanggung kos lebih untuk berulang alik.

Katanya, kerajaan akan meneliti perkara ini bagi mendapatkan cara terbaik untuk membantu kerana hal pengangkutan terletak pada kerajaan negeri di sini.

Kebanyakan pelajar Malaysia yang dianggarkan keseluruhannya 20,000 orang di Australia tinggal di luar dan jauh dari universiti menyebabkan mereka menanggung kos pengangkutan yang tinggi.

Ketika ditanya mengenai kemungkinan pemegang biasiswa kerajaan dibenarkan bekerja sambilan ketika belajar di Australia, kerana peraturan biasiswa mereka tidak membenarkan mereka bekerja, Muhyiddin berkata ini perlu diteliti kerana dibimbangi mereka akan mengabaikan pelajaran jika memberi tumpuan bagi mendapatkan pendapatan tambahan.





from nst,

Govt will consider building Malaysian Hall in Perth

2009/08/09

The government will study requests from the Malaysian community and students for a Malaysia Hall here, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said.

He said the matter was brought to his attention during his trip here and that he would ask Malaysian High Commissioner to Australia Datuk Salman Ahmad and Malaysian Consul-General to Western Australia Hamidah Ashari to prepare a working paper on the matter.

"We want to see whether we can afford it and what the justifications are, for the facility," he told reporters at the end of his five-day visit today.

Muhyiddin, who is also education minister, said setting up the hall had its justification, in view of the large number of Malaysian students and community.

Students who just arrived could utilise the facility for a few days before moving into their campus while the Malaysian community would be able to use the hall to organise events, he said.

If the government decided to set up the hall, Muhyiddin said, it would be better if there were space which could be sub-leased to Malaysians intending to carry out businesses.

He said the government was also looking into a request by students that the government re-appoint a liaison officer for Malaysian students here, a post which existed until the economic crisis in 1997.

At the moment, the deputy prime minister said, there were about 3,000 Malaysian students in Perth who felt that they needed the service of a liaison officer.

"I have asked the consul-general to look into this. If it is justified, we will station an officer here," added Muhyiddin.

The government, he said, would also look into the quantum of scholarships given to Malaysian post-graduate students in Australia, who claimed they were only given scholarships for three years, when in fact, their courses needed up to four years to complete.

Muhyiddin said other issues raised by students here were the high transportation costs as most of the 20,000 Malaysian students in Australia lived far from their campuses.

Asked whether government scholarship holders would be allowed to work while studying in Australia, Muhyiddin said, the regulation prohibited them from doing so. - Bernama