KUALA LUMPUR: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government has fulfilled three of the four promises on the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) contained in their ‘Buku Harapan’ (Book of Hope), said PTPTN chairman Wan Saiful Wan Jan.
“(In the PH manifesto) there are four promises. The first promise is to give an exemption for excellent students from the B40 and M40 families from paying their study loans, which we have already settled.
“The second promise is to lift the overseas travel restriction for PTPTN borrowers in the blacklist, which has been done in the first couple of months after PH came into power.
“The third promise is for those (borrowers) who cannot afford to pay (their PTPTN loans). Their employers are given incentives, like tax exemption, to help them pay the loans, and this too, has been implemented beginning this year,” he said during a talk show called ‘Bicara Politikonomi’ on Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) on Wednesday night.
He said there was only one promise left that has yet to be fulfilled ― to defer repayment by borrowers with a salary of less than RM4, 000 a month.
Wan Saiful said efforts were being made to fulfill the fourth promise as the implementation would take some time.
“So in terms of the promises made, three out of four have been fulfilled within a year and a half after PH took over the government, which is about 75 percent, an impressive achievement by our officers,” he added.
On borrowers with problems making their repayments, Wan Saiful said a study was being carried out to determine the actual cause or reason for it, following which a solution would be made to address the problem.
Last month, Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching said there are 375,925 PTPTN borrowers who have yet to make their loan repayments. – Bernama
