PUTRAJAYA: The process of sending university students stranded at their campuses in the Peninsula back to their hometowns in East Malaysia will resume on May 26 instead of May 28, as was initially decided by the authorities.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said a special ministerial meeting agreed to bring forward the date of the repatriation exercise after the concerns of students' parents were taken into consideration.
He said Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Noraini Ahmad had also met with airline companies which agreed to bring forward the date of the mass repatriation.
"A total of 1,480 students will be flying home on May 26. A total of 1,148 of them will be departing from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, via four flights.
"Meanwhile, two flights are scheduled to bring home 332 students from Kuching to Kuala Lumpur," the Defence Minister said during his daily press conference here today, adding that the students are among 7,000 still stranded at their campuses.
Ismail said that to date, the government has helped send around 50,000 university students back to their hometowns.
It was previously reported that the repatriation process would be temporarily stopped until May 28 due to Hari Raya celebrations.