He was commenting on the revised Budget 2016, announced earlier by Prime Minister Najib Razak, which among other things guaranteed the welfare of the nation’s students and their education.

“As far as promises go, we’re tired of them. We’re used to empty promises,” said Amir, who is a project coordinator for human rights organisation Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) and civil rights NGO Abolish The Sedition Act Movement (GHAH).

He blamed this sorry state of affairs on the government’s “weak administration” and argued that they should be working instead towards providing free education for all Malaysians. Yet, he lamented, not a single step was made towards taking such an initiative.

“We all know that the end result will not favour the students and the rakyat.”

Earlier today, it was reported that the government would continue with four JPA-sponsored programmes for 2016.

These included sending 200 students to Japan, Korea, Germany and France for an engineering programme and scholarships for 8,000 students at Malaysian universities.

The prime minister had also announced that RM5 billion worth in National Higher Education funds would be allocated for students this year.