KUALA LUMPUR: The Higher Education Ministry has found that only one Malaysian, sponsored by a government-linked company, studying in Australia had "gone missing".

In a statement released yesterday, the ministry's media and corporate communications unit said the student, Norzarifah Kamarauzaman, had decided to quit her studies as she was no longer interested in the field she had taken up.

It said Norzarifah had been studying at Curtin University in Perth for 31/2 years and needed only another six months to complete her degree in Geology.

"She contacted the Malaysian consulate in Perth to explain that she had not "disappeared" and was, in fact, safe," said the statement.

The unit was responding to a report in the New Straits Times yesterday that seven students in Australia sponsored by the GLC had pulled a vanishing act.
Umno Youth social welfare secretariat chairman Datuk Abdul Rahman Azeez Abdul Rahim had told the NST that he had found this out when the parents of these students voiced their fears.

He said the wing had contacted Wisma Putra, Interpol and the Malaysian students club in Australia for assistance and was prepared to fly the parents of these students to Australia to coax them to continue their studies.

Bernama reports that Abdul Rahman Azeez will send a team to Australia to bring Norzarifah home.

He said his secretariat had "received an indication" about her whereabouts from the university's students and lecturers.

"We need at least a week to settle matters such as travel documents and some technical aspects."

He said he had discussed the matter with Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Idris Haron before informing Wisma Putra.