PUTRAJAYA, Sept 14 – Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said in a special press conference on the nation’s economy here on Monday that the students that under government-funded scholarship who are studying abroad will not be called back to Malaysia.
He said the student who studying that abroad under government-funded scholarship will be continue to be funded and they will not be recalled until they have finished their studies at there. He said he assure that the nation’s economy was stable and while the Ringgit was on a decline.
“This was something other countries were experiencing too, based on instability of the world’s economy. In the same time, I also would like to announce several measures to be taken to further strengthen the economy which is the assurance to the students was highlighted due to the fact that more than 18,000 students from Malaysia were called back during the 1997/1998 Asian crisis,” said Najib.
Student were forced to come back to Malaysia during the crisis due to the recession and Ringgit devaluation of almost half, from 2.5 to just under 4.57 in Jan 1998. The crisis did not only affect the students studying abroad, but also had left UK universities with a financial black hole due to the students reduction.
In the same time, Najib had also been announced that few measures to be taken to address the issues that had been faced by Malaysia’s economy, which posted a slower growth amid a weaker ringgit, lower commodity prices and challenging external environment.
