FOR GOOD USE: Wan Junaidi (second left) hands over the financial assistance to a student as Dr Abdul Rahman (left) and Dr Hazland (third left) look on.
KUCHING: No biasness is practised in the exemption of payment for top scorers who receive financial aid from the National
Higher Education Fund (PTPTN).
According to Dewan Rakyat Deputy Speaker Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, up to July 31 last year, a total of 10,849 loan borrowers were exempted as they had received first class honours in their studies and majority of them were non-Bumiputera borrowers.
From the 10,849 loan borrowers, only 2,103 were Bumiputera students whereas the rest (8,746) were non-Bumiputeras.
“This is a clear statement that the government through PTPTN is not practising favouritism and everything is done based on a meritocracy system and the student’s performance,” said Wan Junaidi.
He was speaking at the PTPTN Loan Advance (WPP) presentation ceremony for higher learning institute students under the Santubong parliamentary.
He pointed out that the payment exemption totalled RM312.24 million with the exemption for Bumiputera students totalling RM42.84 million whereas the total amount of exemption for non-Bumiputera students totalled RM269.39 million.
“Therefore it is not fair to claim that the government only assists Bumiputera students when in fact everyone receives fair treatment,” he said.
On a related matter, Wan Junaidi stressed the importance of loan borrowers paying their loan installments
promptly to avoid being blacklisted.
“Up to July this year, only RM2.62 billion or 48.33 per cent payment has been made compared to the total amount of RM5.92 billion.”
“It is vital that payment is made as PTPTN needs it to continue providing loans to students in the future,” he said.
He also urged recipients of the WPP to spend the money wisely as the money was meant to be used to purchase necessary
items for their new semester.
A total of 186 students who will resume their studies soon received their WPP from PTPTN worth RM1,500 yesterday.
Also present were Pantai Damai assemblyman Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi and Demak assemblyman Dr Hazland Abang Hipni.