Kepong MP offers help to student doing four part-time jobs

Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng has offered to assist Ong Ke Shing, whose story as a struggling undergraduate juggling four part-time jobs, was highlighted in a recent documentary.

He said although tertiary students are, generally, expected to work part-time for their daily expenses and education fees, the 22-year-old's routine as a Universiti Malaya Sports Science student is an exception.

"I believe there are many other similar cases like hers, who have to take up multiple jobs while studying.

"To do my part as the people’s elected representative for Kepong, I urge this lady and other youths alike from Kepong who are still studying in either a public university or college to approach my office.

"I shall render as much help as possible to those who really deserve it so that they can complete their studies with not much stress and worry over money," Lim said in a statement today.

Ong was the subject of a short nine-minute film called 'Clocked Out', made by her fellow UM student, Walli Khalik, who intended to put a focus on the financial struggles students face to make ends meet.

On average, Ong works about 60 hours a week as a survey conductor, a sports masseuse, a bar waitress and a fitness instructor.

She has also been working since Form 5 to save up enough money for her tertiary education.

Lim said others who wished to assist Ong and other deserving students could also contact his office and discuss possibilities of providing them with full or partial scholarships.

"The last thing we want to see is for these students from a poor background to drop out of their studies in order to work full time to ease the financial burden in the family," he stressed.

The film was shown as part of a Freedom Film Festival 2019 programme in Petaling Jaya last Saturday called "Students Pun Mau Makan (Students also want to eat)", where four students were invited to speak on their experiences in dealing with financial struggles.