Barisan policy on PTPTN loan waiver for top students progressive, says MCA

KOTA KINABALU: The decision to waive the loan for National Higher Education Fund Corp (PTPTN) students who graduate with first-class honours is a pragmatic and progressive move, says Datuk Nicole Wong.

The MCA Youth chairman believed that the announcement will definitely serve as motivation for university students to redouble their efforts and score higher in their examinations.

Furthermore, she said, the only deciding factors are the students’ examination results.

“Regardless of the economic background, race, or religion, every graduate who meets the academic requirements can enjoy this benefit,” she said in a statement on Thursday (July 28).

According to statistics up to Feb 28, 2017, she said, there had been 42,425 first-class honour graduates who were PTPTN loan borrowers, adding to a total of RM1.26bil waived.

“However, the policy was changed afterwards to be applicable only for students from the B40 and M40 income groups who obtain a first-class bachelor’s degree, which was unfair to some other students.

“Thus, I am confident that this new change will be encouraging for students in their tertiary studies, by injecting an element of reward and sending a constructive message about the importance of hard work,” Wong said.

Towards this end, she urged university students to aim higher and study diligently for this opportunity.

“Even if a student did not perform well before and could not apply for scholarships, this loan repayment exemption will effectively be a second chance for students to work towards, especially in tertiary studies where interests and passion are more aligned,” she said.

MCA deputy secretary-general Datuk Pamela Yong also agreed that the move will drive undergraduates to work hard consistently to secure the best results in their examinations.

“The Prime Minister’s announcement clearly manifests the Malaysian Family spirit of caring for all,” she said on Thursday (July 28).

Yong said in the run up to the 14th General Election (GE14), Pakatan Harapan had promised to abolish all repayments of the PTPTN loans to gain popular vote but was in fact sending a wrong message that merit performance was no longer needed.

She said Pakatan changed Barisan Nasional's policy by removing the across-the-board-waiver for first class honours degree holders and limited this exemption to only B40 first class graduates as part of its cost-cutting measure.

"This was a regressive move. There is no push factor as some B40 students may prefer to lull in this realm with the false assumption that this exemption reward will continuously be given specially for them.

"On the contrary, we should encourage students from all strata of society, irrespective of race, religion or socio-economic status to strive for performance and achievement.

"In citing cost savings for the government, Pakatan’s short-sightedness without a vision of the future at best had isolated and sidelined all other graduates who had burnt the midnight oil to secure good grades," added Yong.

She contended that Pakatan’s policy on the PTPTN loans was regressive as borrowers would no longer be penalised for defaulting on repayments and they would expect similar freebies for home, car, personal loans for credit card purchases from and by financial institutions in future.

"Merit-based performers would be discouraged from pursuing excellence or meeting the academic criteria set, resulting with complacency and apathy sapping in," she said.