Mara will stop sponsoring students to Taylor's University for a host of reasons, Bernama reported Rural and Regional Development Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announcing today.

It is unclear what the "host of reasons" are, but Taylor's University terminated its contract with operator Wawasan Sutera last Friday for using buses that carried the varsity logo to ferry participants to the red shirt rally last Wednesday.

Nevertheless, the state news agency quoted him saying that the decision does not apply to existing students and they could continue their studies as usual.

"I have instructed Mara director-general (Ibrahim Ahmad) to look into this matter. We will stop sponsoring the new intake (of students) due to many reasons.

"However, we will not terminate the scholarship of the existing students for fear it will cause problems in the future," he told reporters after visiting the Information Technology Sales Centre @Busana at Menara Mara in Kuala Lumpur today, quoted in Bernama .

Ismail Sabri said this when asked to comment on news which went viral on social media that Mara would cease giving scholarships to students pursuing studies at Taylor’s University.

Photographs of red shirt protesters getting off a bus which had the university logo had put them in a spot.

Ismail Sabri was among a few Umno ministers who was vocal in voicing support for the rally, named 'Himpunan Bangkit Maruah Melayu' at first but was later changed to 'Himpunan Rakyat Bersatu'.

It was meant as a counter-rally to the allegedly 'Chinese' Bersih 4 which called for institutional reform and Najib's resignation, held from August 29 to 30.

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