The Malaysian Insight

THE National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) has to take stricter actions such as blacklisting defaulters who does not want to pay up, said Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh.

He said a research by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) showed that the majority of borrowers who did not repay PTPTN could afford other financial commitments.

“The person who isn’t paying PTPTN has no problem paying the housing loan and the same person has no problem paying his car loan as well as credit cards, but the same person is not paying PTPTN.

“He doesn’t want to pay and PTPTN has to be stricter,” he said.

Idris was answering a question about PTPTN borrowers who were barred from leaving the country during a preparatory workshop and debate simulation for the 2017 Student Parliament.

He said more stringent approaches were necessary as some borrowers refused to voluntarily repay their student loans.

Idris added that graduates should meet PTPTN to negotiate their loan settlements.

“I have said that if you can’t pay RM200, then pay RM100 and if you still can’t pay the amount you can pay RM50 but you have to come and see us. I have told PTPTN to not mistreat anyone,” he said.

Earlier today, Berita Harian reported that more than half of the 622,768 Malaysians who have been barred from travelling overseas since 2010 were National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) borrowers.

According to PTPTN deputy chief executive Mastura Mohd Khalid, as of April there was still an outstanding RM7.9 billion to be collected from about 600,000 borrowers.

PTPTN was started in 1979 to offer loans to students from diploma levels to PhD studies. Depending the course and institutions, the loans can vary between RM4,750 to RM30,000 per year. – July 16, 2017.