Four hunded and nine Malaysians, mostly students and their family members in Egypt, arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), here, early today, on three separate flights under Ops Pyramid 2.
The AirAsia X special aircraft bringing in 364 of them, arrived at the airport at 7.45am, and the two Singapore Airlines planes carrying 20 and 25 of them respectively, touched down at 8.05am and 9.30am.
They were received by Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob, Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan, Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin and the Education Ministry's second secretary-general Datuk Dr Zaini Ujang.
When met by reporters, Hamzah advised Malaysians who are still in Egypt to follow the instructions given by the Foreign Ministry to ensure their safety.
"If they don't want to come home, they should stay in a safer place, as we have suggested. But preferably, they should return home.
"We hope the process (of bringing Malaysians back home from Egypt) can be completed by Aug 27, the last flight for them. The Malaysian nationals also need to understand this is not an easy thing as we have had to go through various obstacles," he said.
He also refuted allegations by some quarters that bringing back the Malaysians home was a move to pressure the Egyptian government.
"We have taken this measure (evacuation) as we feel responsible for our citizens' safety there.
"We don't interfere but if possible, the crisis in Egypt be best resolved through negotiations among all the groups involved," he said.
Hamzah also dismissed speculation that some Malaysian students had been arrested in Egypt for being linked to the rival groups.
He said since the beginning, the Malaysian government had issued a directive for Malaysians there not to do anything that could affect the country's good name.
He said until now, Wisma Putra had not received any official report from the Egyptian government on the matter, and the Malaysian government was not responsible if Malaysians were found to do that.
"We have advised Malaysians, whether students or those living in Egypt, not to be involved in the conflict there. If they are, they would be arrested or if anything happens, we are not to be held responsible," he added.
Meanwhile, Kamalanathan said Zaini would be leading a delegation to Egypt tomorrow for talks with the Egyptian ministry of higher education on the current state of the Malaysians' studies there.
Last Tuesday, the government decided to bring back 3,300 Malaysian students in Egypt using commercial aircraft due to the reported unrest and uncertain conditions there.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had also said that the security of Malaysian students in Egypt was the government's priority at the moment and the task of bringing them back should not be delayed as the situation there could become more serious.
The AirAsia X special aircraft bringing in 364 of them, arrived at the airport at 7.45am, and the two Singapore Airlines planes carrying 20 and 25 of them respectively, touched down at 8.05am and 9.30am.
They were received by Kelantan Menteri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yakob, Deputy Education Minister P. Kamalanathan, Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin and the Education Ministry's second secretary-general Datuk Dr Zaini Ujang.
When met by reporters, Hamzah advised Malaysians who are still in Egypt to follow the instructions given by the Foreign Ministry to ensure their safety.
"If they don't want to come home, they should stay in a safer place, as we have suggested. But preferably, they should return home.
"We hope the process (of bringing Malaysians back home from Egypt) can be completed by Aug 27, the last flight for them. The Malaysian nationals also need to understand this is not an easy thing as we have had to go through various obstacles," he said.
He also refuted allegations by some quarters that bringing back the Malaysians home was a move to pressure the Egyptian government.
"We have taken this measure (evacuation) as we feel responsible for our citizens' safety there.
"We don't interfere but if possible, the crisis in Egypt be best resolved through negotiations among all the groups involved," he said.
Hamzah also dismissed speculation that some Malaysian students had been arrested in Egypt for being linked to the rival groups.
He said since the beginning, the Malaysian government had issued a directive for Malaysians there not to do anything that could affect the country's good name.
He said until now, Wisma Putra had not received any official report from the Egyptian government on the matter, and the Malaysian government was not responsible if Malaysians were found to do that.
"We have advised Malaysians, whether students or those living in Egypt, not to be involved in the conflict there. If they are, they would be arrested or if anything happens, we are not to be held responsible," he added.
Meanwhile, Kamalanathan said Zaini would be leading a delegation to Egypt tomorrow for talks with the Egyptian ministry of higher education on the current state of the Malaysians' studies there.
Last Tuesday, the government decided to bring back 3,300 Malaysian students in Egypt using commercial aircraft due to the reported unrest and uncertain conditions there.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had also said that the security of Malaysian students in Egypt was the government's priority at the moment and the task of bringing them back should not be delayed as the situation there could become more serious.
