CELEBRITY preacher and businessman Ebit Lew has suspended his assistance to help send back stranded students from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris after the institute insisted he did not have its permission to do so.

He also apologised to UPSI for chartering 20 buses to send the students back.

The students were stranded in the university following a last-minute decision by the Higher Education Ministry for classes to be held online following the spike in Covid-19 cases.

The students had said they had no money for the return trip home.

Ebit also apologised to the students for being unable to help them.

“I apologise to the UPSI administration, especially to vice-chancellor Mohammad Shatar Sabram, who called me earlier seeking an apology for my actions.

“I also apologise to the students,” he said in a Facebook post.

He said he was suspending the bus services until he had UPSI’s approval.

Attached with the Facebook post was a letter from the university urging him to seek prior approval before helping the affected students.

On Friday, the ministry had made a last-minute change to move classes and registration online.

Thousands of students were caught off guard as they had already arrived or were on the way to their campuses to begin the new semester.

Following that, several groups and individuals have come forward to help these students.

Among them is former education minister Dr Maszlee has Malik, who raised more than RM150,000 in 24 hours in emergency funds to help the university students. – October 4, 2020.