Khairy vs Rafizi debate : War of numbers on higher education

It was a war of numbers as Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin and PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli squared off last night to debate the future of higher education in Malaysia.

Homing in on Pakatan Rakyat's proposal to do away with National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) loans, each contradicted the other's figures, leaving the audience still wondering if the move would truly bankrupt the country.

Those cheering for Khairy (right) were obviously persuaded to think so.

According to the Rembau MP, the endeavour - which includes subsidising students at private institutions of higher learning and building 10 more public universities - would leave the government unable to even pay the civil service.

"The grand total is RM185 billion for 10 years or about RM18 billion a year. Read this with Pakatan Rakyat's other promises in the Buku Jingga....and the total amount is RM188 billion a year,” he said.

"Our budget this year is RM233 billion. Their promises of the moon and the stars will leave us with about RM45 billion left, but emoluments cost us RM52 billion.”

Rafizi (left), however, claimed that Khairy's data is inflated.

Not accounting for subsidies for students in private institutions, he said, Pakatan's calculations show the government needs about RM5-6 billion a year to pay for free education at public varsities.

Rafizi, an accountant by training, said Khairy's numbers have ballooned because he used "Umno figures", among others, in calculating the cost of establishing a university.

"(Deputy Higher Education Minister) Saifuddin Abdullah is sitting here and he can attest to this,” he said.

"Monash University opened its campus for 5,000 people, including a medical faculty, for RM200 million, so it's RM400 million for 10,000 people and not RM2 billion as Khairy has estimated.”

However, Khairy countered that the Monash campus does not compare to a public university with postgraduate facilities.

He said he had also considered the operating costs of universities which, based on Universiti Sains Malaysia as an example, would be about RM31 billion for 10 years.

Question of reality

Khairy further described Pakatan's move to end the PTPTN loan scheme as a political gambit to attract young voters.

This also reflects Pakatan's "poor confidence" in its ability to grow the economy should it "God forbid, take over".

"BN believes in growing the economy so that graduates are employed with higher wages, so they can pay off their debts," he said.

He added that this is a difference in ideology, with Pakatan taking a welfare approach.

Commenting on this later, Rafizi said Pakatan is being realistic in avoiding a situation where the government or even the Employees Provident Fund may need to underwrite a whopping RM177 billion in student debt in 2020.

"We have had three economic cycles in the 15 years of PTPTN and the rakyat still can't pay. The payment rate has never risen beyond 10 percent. We can't possibly wait 40 years to consider a different model," he said.

Asked by reporters to comment on whose figures more closely reflect reality, Saifuddin (right) refused to take sides, instead commending both debaters for "doing their homework".

"I can't comment as I don't know where they sourced those figures...but the question is not about the accuracy of the figures, Rather, it is that the issues were raised in this debate, which is better than a one-sided ceramah," he said.

The debate, which was attended by at least 400 and broadcast ‘live’ by Astro Awani, Bernama Radio, Mobtv and TV Selangor, was organised by Malay daily Sinar Harian.

It was moderated by the newspaper’s columnist and Universiti Islam Antarabangsa lecturer Maszlee Malik.