Prof Datu Mohd Fadzil Abdul Rahman
KUCHING: Measures to get National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) defaulters to service their loans by barring them from travelling, renewing their passport or even driving licence and road tax, should be thoroughly reviewed before they are implemented.
While Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) deputy vice-chancellor (Student Affairs & Alumni) Prof Datu Mohd Fadzil Abdul Rahman welcomes the suggestion to reintroduce the travel ban for defaulters, he however dismissed the idea of blocking them from renewing their driving licence and road tax.
“It is not fair to stop people from renewing their driving licence and road tax because transportation is their source of income and they have to commute to their workplace, for instance.
“Some might argue that if these defaulters can afford to buy a car, why can’t they pay their PTPTN loan? However, the car might not be theirs in the first place and if they stopped driving, how are they going to find money?” he told The Borneo Post when contacted yesterday.
He was responding to recent news that PTPTN, following discussions and feedback from stakeholders, was looking at several measures to improve its loan repayments such as through travel bans and barring defaulters from renewing their driving licence and road tax.
Fadzil opined that travel bans may be the more feasible option considering that it has previously been implemented.
“When it was implemented, the number of PTPTN defaulters who started repaying their loans increased almost immediately and after they stopped it due to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) manifesto, there is a sudden drop in repayment of the loans.
“Most of those who travel abroad are for leisure and this means that they can afford to go for holidays.
“So, PTPTN has to be fair and take into account such factors because whatever proposals they are looking into, at the end of the day, they have to make sense,” he said.
On the other hand, Fadzil also expressed his concern over the lack of responsibility from PTPTN borrowers in repaying their debts.
“A debt is a debt and you cannot give all sorts of reasons not to pay back your PTPTN loan.
“If they are not concerned about paying off their loan, they are jeopardising others including the future generation from benefiting from such facilities, which is unfair,” he said, adding that back in the 1970s or 1980s, there were no such provisions for students to apply for “such an easy loan with very low interest”.
He acknowledged that some might not be able to service their loan as they are either underpaid or currently unemployed.
“But what saddens me are those who can afford to pay back the loan but refuse to do so simply because they have this notion that it is the government’s money.
“They’ve forgotten that the loan disbursed to them is also the taxpayers’ money.”
He thus suggested that PTPTN implement salary deductions from borrowers who are earning a monthly salary of RM4,000 and above.
“They can ‘hunt’ for defaulters working in the civil service by going through the Public Service Department (JPA) and Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (LHDN), or for those who are in the private sector, they can go through the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and LHDN.
“I’m very positive that if they ‘hunt’ now, they will be able to find out who is getting a decent salary but refuses to pay back their PTPTN loan,” he remarked.
He also proposed that a penalty be imposed on defaulters who are earning more than RM4,000 per month.
“If they refuse to pay, they should be charged a penalty such as interests. It’s not that we want to be cruel but in my opinion, the defaulters have to be taught a lesson so that they will be responsible in repaying back their loan,” he stressed.