If Banks Can Get Bankrupts To Repay Gradually Why Can T Ptptn

---

 
From Clement Stanley
It’s shocking to learn that many among the 1.25 million National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan defaulters were retirees.
Retirees are people who have completed their work cycle in life. If they were with the government, they are, in all probability, drawing a monthly pension.
Some of them may have retired as people in high positions with huge pensions, including those walking around with a “Datuk” title.
Higher education minister Zambry Abdul Kadir said in September last year that 430,000 PTPTN borrowers have not repaid a single sen to the corporation.
If each and every one of these inconsiderate and irresponsible borrowers just paid RM1 towards their loans, the corporation would be RM430,000 richer.
Is it so easy to take from PTPTN but so difficult to pay back what you borrowed?
I guess a large number of borrowers have come to believe that PTPTN is there for them to milk, especially since the corporation has not come down hard enough on these borrowers or put them on the CTOS alert.
Maybe it is time to give serious thought to a proposal by the Malaysian Executive and Foreign Service Association for automatic deductions from the salaries of active civil servants and from the pensions of those who have retired.
After all, if banks can get bankrupts to settle their loans gradually, why can’t the same principle be applied for PTPTN defaulters?
All the more so after insolvency department director-general Bakri Majid revealed that some individuals are intentionally becoming bankrupt to avoid high loan repayments.
Penang mufti Sukki Othman said it is haram for Muslims to avoid repaying their PTPTN loans.
It is a rare case when bringing religion into a financial matter is acceptable.
Sukki’s declaration, I feel, is of greater service to the community as non-repayment would affect a majority of Muslim students aspiring to succeed in life.
After all, if we can shame a person in front of 90 people for committing khalwat by subjecting him to public caning, irrespective of how Malaysians view such punishments, why not embarrass (or educate) the 430,000 borrowers who have not repaid PTPTN a single sen by posting their names online?
Whether you are Malay, Chinese or Indian, PTPTN came to your assistance when you needed the education loan. It is now your turn to return that favour by paying back what you borrowed from the corporation. - FMT
Clement Stanley is an FMT reader.
The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

---