PM: Trace the student loan defaulters
BY JANE RITIKOS and GAVIN GOMEZPETALING JAYA: Trace them and make them pay up, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) on the high number of student loan defaulters.
He also lambasted the attitude of defaulters, who have jobs but refuse to repay their loans, as “unforgivable.”
“Action must be taken. Sorry, but we have to take stern action because they must realise that the responsibility (to pay back the loans) is theirs.
“They (PTPTN) must know who owe them and what they are doing now,” he said upon his return from a three-day working visit to Saudi Arabia.
It was reported that PTPTN had RM7bil in arrears, which had accumulated over the years, forcing it to borrow RM2bil from the EPF in 2003.
The corporation had said the outstanding amount was due to loan defaulters and also because it had not received any Government allocation since 2003.
Abdullah said if stern action were not taken against the loan defaulters, the corporation would never recover its money.
“Many people want facilities, loans and will lobby or seek support to get them. But after they graduate they do not want to pay up,” he said.
However, those who have graduated but have yet to find a job should be given time to repay their study loan.
“But if they have found jobs but are not repaying the loans, that is something which we cannot forgive,” he said.
In Putrajaya, PTPTN senior manager Wan Ahmad Wan Yusoff said the defaulters would be taken to court as they have already received reminders to pay up.
“We are serious. In cases where students have responded, we have been understanding,” he added.
Meanwhile, Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Shafie Mohd Salleh said the Cabinet has asked his ministry to “relook the criteria” for awarding loans in light of the high number of loan defaulters.
Among the criteria being considered were to only award loans to students enrolled in critical courses and those from low-income families, he said.
This means that fewer students will qualify for PTPTN loans in future.
The days of students, whether rich or poor, obtaining a loan from the corporation might soon be over, he said.
“What I am trying to do now is get more ideas from the public,” he said, adding that a “friendly chat” would be organised to get feedback from students, parents and others on ways to speed up the repayment of loans.
“The Cabinet has directed us, together with the Finance Ministry, to come up with a working paper on how to make the loan scheme more viable,” Dr Shafie said.
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