‘PTPTN won’t burden borrowers’

Wan Saiful: New repayment scheme will help those with low income

The National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) has assured that a repayment scheme mechanism to be announced next month will not burden borrowers.

PTPTN chairman Wan Saiful Wan Jan urged borrowers to wait for the announcement, noting that fresh graduates and young workers will be assisted and not burdened.

“It will be clear that those with lower income can still be assisted.

“We want to go back to the idea to allow people to fulfil their responsibility,” he told reporters after giving his talk during the state-level Integrity Empowerment Seminar here yesterday.

He said the announcement would be good news for those who stood by their principle of paying back what they had borrowed.

“It will be bad news for those who don’t want to pay and keep harping on and politicising the matter.

“If they want to remain stuck in the past, they can do so, but I want to move on,” he added.

It was reported that the gov- ernment had backed down from its promise to allow borrowers to only begin servicing their loans once their salary hits RM4,000.

Wan Saiful, who contributed the pledge to Pakatan Harapan’s election manifesto, apologised and said it could not be fulfilled due to the country’s debt situation.

In Budget 2019, the government announced a scheduled repayment scheme of between 2% and 15% of the monthly income of borrowers to ensure that PTPTN remained sustainable.

On a protest by students in front of the Parliament on Wednesday, Wan Saiful said the government had received their memorandum.

“The Education Minister has received the memorandum and we welcome their opinion,” he said.