Ptptn What Bn Did Was Correct

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I DON'T wanna call it another U-turn. Call it 'reclassification'. That's what PTPTN chairman Wan Saiful Wan Jan decides yesterday. Not final thou but the plan to go back to banning PTPTN loan defaulters from going abroad must be supported.

It was what Barisan Nasional did exactly before Pakatan Harapan took Putrajaya. It was mocked and labelled as 'cruel' to our students but the students are even more cruel to other borrowers and the future generation for refusing to service or repay their loans.

Scrapping their loan will not happen although that's what PH promised before GE14. It now amounted to also RM100 bilion!

So, when Wan Saiful said PTPTN will raise a proposal to reintroduce the travel ban for defaulters, only if the people are in favour of it, is one of the limited options left. Whether they like it or not, I think it needs to be done. Make it a precedent.

Let's not discount on the repayment of loan. Even in Islam, whatever you borrow must be repaid. The government must bear in mind that many other borrowers will be in jeopardy should PTPTN lacks of fund to cater for their study need.

In March, Wan Saiful said the corporation was not planning to reintroduce the travel ban although the idea had been floated as a means to deal with defaulters. However yesterday, he said the move to do away with such an action had drawn flak from various quarters.

When the travel ban was lifted last year, some 400,000 defaulters 'benefited' from it, hence sinking PTPTN into more problems as how to retrieve the money. Some are already earning above RM3,000 or RM4,000 monthly but still avoiding the monthly payment.

In other words, we are giving the defaulters 'a special privilege' as they were free to become jet setters.

Under the travel ban, about 684,000 defaulters have paid RM2 billion in their dues. About a million defaulters were barred from travelling.

More than two-third of PTPTN defaulters started servicing their loans after the corporation imposed the travel ban under BN government, and 332,000 had yet to pay up.

Another U-turn, perhaps? Whether it is or not, it augurs well for PTPTN. More and more students are seeking for study loans, and maybe in the near future, the governments should think twice before making it a political tool to woo voters!

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