GOVT TO STUDY REQUESTS FOR MALAYSIA HALL IN PERTH

From R. Ravichandran

PERTH, Aug 10 (Bernama) -- The government will study requests from the
Malaysian community and students for a Malaysia Hall here, Deputy Prime Minister

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 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 here
Sunday.

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
here.

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