PTPTN's achievements were before Wan Saiful's time, says Johan Jaaffar

PETALING JAYA: An ex-board member of the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) has taken issue with Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan’s talk about his contributions to the loan fund.

Tan Sri Johan Jaaffar said that Wan Saiful seemed to forget that PTPTN’s most outstanding performance was in the years before Wan Saiful became the chairman.

The PTPTN task force with the guidance of its board members handled all the matters that Wan Saiful claimed were the result of his work, said Johan.

This included an emphasis on savings and proactive measures to recover debt from borrowers.

In fact, Johan said PTPTN recorded the highest total debt collection in the history of its establishment in 2017 when the institution managed to collect a total of RM3.8bil.

On July 12, Bernama reported that Wan Saiful's contract of service as PTPTN chairman had expired on June 17.

"I am quite proud of the record that I have achieved as chairman for four years," he was quoted as saying.

Wan Saiful, who is Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia information chief, also said that when he took over as PTPTN chairman, the corporation's annual deposit collection was around RM700mil but this grew to RM4bil a year after four years.

In a statement on Friday, Johan spoke about a low morale at PTPTN when Wan Saiful was the chairman.

Johan said that he himself had resigned from the board after attending just one meeting chaired by Wan Saiful.

"He was appointed as the chairman of PTPTN immediately after the victory of Pakatan Harapan in 2018.

"One of the actions taken by the minister in charge at the time was to terminate the services of most of the PTPTN board members, including its chairman Datuk Seri Dr Shamsul Anuar Nasarah,” he said.

Johan said despite Shamsul Anuar being a political appointee, he exhibited a high level of professionalism and extraordinary commitment.

"I myself was retained on the board but I resigned after only once attending a meeting chaired by Wan Saiful."

He claimed that Wan Saiful did not understand PTPTN's culture and did not appreciate the contributions of the PTPTN board of directors before that.

Johan also said that he regretted Wan Saiful's remarks that some long-serving PTPTN top officials had apparently not brought a new work culture or "organisational discipline".

"I consider this statement and several other statements against PTPTN staff as an insult to them," he said.