SEPANG: In an effort to assist Malaysian students facing financial difficulties in Egypt, the Federation of Malay Students Union (GPMS) handed out RM1.1mil in financial aid to 39 students in the Arab state.
The financial aid comes in the form of interest-free study loans.
The bank drafts were presented to the students' parents by Deputy Foreign Minister, Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican, here this afternoon.
"GPMS as an international student body has played an instrumental role in helping our students hit by financial difficulties in Egypt. I'm grateful for their good efforts," said Reezal, who is the past president of GPMS.
GPMS has managed to raise RM6 million for their students' funds since its launch last year, of which RM1 million was donated by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as the patron of GPMS.
Advising all Malaysian students in Egypt to respect domestic laws and refrain from posting sensitive remarks on social media that can be perceived as "potential threat" by the Egyptian authorities, Reezal said, "Egypt is in a state of emergency now. Many police and armed forces have been deployed to keep the peace there. I hope our students will not post anything deemed provocative on Facebook or Instagram that could land them in trouble with the local authorities."
There are currently 11,000 Malaysian students in Egypt and Reezal said Wisma Putra is monitoring their movements from time to time.
Bomb attacks rocked Egypt on Sunday when two Coptic Christian churches were blasted, killed 47 people and injured 137 others.
The first bomb explosion in Tanta killed 29 people and injured 71 others, while the incident in Alexandria took the lives of 18 people and injured 66 others.