By Norfaizah Kamil
GOMBAK, 24 February 2015: IIUM students have came up with a great idea of setting up what they called I-FOR which stands for IIUM Students for Food Relief to help fellow students who are really facing financial problems to buy food.
œI-FOR is a programme that would provide food for the students who are faced with financial problems as a result of not getting their loans credited to their accounts on time. In other words, they are having problems arising from the delay due to loan payment not yet credited to their accounts, said the President of I-FOR, Che Ku Nurul Hidayah, yesterday.
She added that the idea of forming I-FOR came from suggestions made in IIUM Confession.
œThis idea of forming I-FOR came when I first followed IIUM Confession Facebook page. We (members of I-FOR) are the so-called ‘keyboard warriors’ who often give comments and suggestions to the confession made in there. Then, when I read about students who do not eat, I think it’s a good start for the ‘keyboard warriors’ not only to remain ‘keyboard warriors’, but to create an action as we are all university students and we should have the sense of humanities to care for others, she said.
Many IIUM students complained that they have been starving as they do not have enough money to buy food since they have not received their loan payment from the Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional (PTPTN) or The National Higher Education Fund Corporation.
œI have not eaten rice for a few days already. I dont have any money to buy food, wrote an anonymous sender with a nickname #iamveryhungry in IIUM Confession on 14 February 2015.
According to Che Ku Nurul Hidayah, after the single post, it was then realised that there are many more students who are faced with the same problem.
The programme is said to be a long-term one as the team expected that students would face similar problem at the end of the semester. ***