KUALA LUMPUR: Ng Zhun Ye regards the 1Malaysia Student Discount Card (KADS1M) as a godsend for all students.

The student of a private college in this federal capital is able to cut down on his otherwise just over RM500 monthly expenditure, which also goes for buying books and stationery and tools to support his Internet usage.

His sentiments are shared by Azeqa Ahmad, a student of the International Islamic University of Malaysia (IIUM), who was surprised at the range of goods and services and high percentage of discounts made available for users of the card.

"This card helps students to exercise thrift as well. For example, I am able to save RM5 when I buy stationery for RM20," said the third-year humanities student.

KADS1M was introduced on July 2, with a launch by Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, the idea coming from undergraduates themselves following a National Student Consultative Council meeting on Nov 21 last year.

The introduction of the card did not cost the government anything.

Deputy Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister Datuk Rohani Abdul Karim, in replying to a question in the Dewan Rakyat, said the initiative was made available through the corporate social responsibility of Bank Rakyat, which was coordinating with the relevant companies in providing the discounts.

She said they were also responsible in distributing the cards, and that as of this month, 927,397 cards had been distributed and students.

Coming back to Azeqa, the student suggested that companies or outlets participating in the discount programme display a KADS1M logo to notify students. She claimed that some outlets were not doing this.

Muhammad Syahril Ahmad Halim, a student at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), said there was a lack of promotion of the card in the east coast states, such as Terengganu and Kelantan.

"I feel there is little promotion and some companies or shops do not offer the discounts. I hope more companies will welcome this good initiative of the government," he said.

The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry introduced KADS1M with the objective of helping almost 1.5 million students of public and private tertiary institutions in the country to reduce the burden of their cost of living.

Students stand to get discounts of between five and 60 per cent for goods and services from more than 2,600 outlets of 264 participating companies.

The goods and services include books, stationery, sports attire, transport and accommodation, food and drinks, and health clinic, automotive workshop and recreation services.

Rohani said the card, now confined to full-time students in local public and private tertiary institutions, would also be given to Malaysians studying overseas and part-time university students.

- Bernama