SIBU: Bukit Assek assemblyman Joseph Chieng Jin Ek urged the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) to re-evaluate the criteria required for PTPTN borrowers to qualify for the Yayasan Sarawak PTPTN loan repayment incentive.
He highlighted a case where a graduate, having cleared 45 per cent of his loans, was deemed ineligible for the incentive.
During a visit to the PTPTN Sibu office yesterday (Jan 9), Chieng was informed by Nurulhuda Abdul Wahid, the office head, that borrowers must settle 30 per cent of the loan to qualify for the incentive.
However, payments made within the grace period, which extends 12 months after completing studies, were not considered in the assessment.
“So, it seems that he had paid the amount too early,” he told a press conference here today.
Chieng said it is unfair for the graduate, and in Sibu alone, he said there were two such cases thus far.
“It shows that he is a responsible payer. Instead of qualifying for the incentive, he has been penalised as he has been excluded from it. The act of settling the loan should be encouraged and not otherwise as what had happened to this student.
“I will bring up this matter to the attention of our Premier and PTPTN, hoping that the criteria for the incentive will be revised,” he said.
The incentive, facilitated by the state government through Yayasan Sarawak, subsidises 30 per cent of the outstanding balance of PTPTN study loans for Sarawak graduates.
Chieng also quoted PTPTN chairman Datuk Norliza Abdul Rahim, who said that more than 3,000 Sarawak graduates had benefited from the incentive totalling RM12.43 million in 2023 alone.
Since its inception in 2019, more than 25,000 Sarawak graduates were benefactors of the incentives amounting to RM90.42 million.
