'Khaled must quit if he ordered Unisel loan freeze'

PKR director of strategy Rafizi Ramli today said that Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin has to resign from his post if he had instructed the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) to halt giving loans to Universiti Selangor (Unisel) students.

At a press conference today, he said that this is because such an act smells of “vindictive” politics, which is unacceptable for a minister of Khaled’s ranking.

“Here we have a minister who, when a decision was quietly taken to stop loans to (a) thousand students, instead of showing concern for the welfare of the students, was celebrating and gloating about it. He was clearly vindictive,” he said.

Khaled yesterday tweeted that if students cannot pay fees due to absence of the loans, then Unisel should waive the fees and fulfill Pakatan Rakyat’s free education proposal.

Malaysiakini had reported that students enrolling at the Selangor government-owned university in April found that they could not apply for PTPTN loans due to a “temporary halt”.

'Childish' Khaled, 'professional' KJ

He said that as “the minister in charge of the ivory tower” Khaled should know that funds for higher education comes from the federal coffers.

“So any reforms must be done in an integrated manner by the federal government. It's a no brainer. How are we to progress to become a mature country if we can't even differentiate federal and state powers?” he asked.

He added that Khaled's “childish” demeanour also pales in comparison to Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, whose constructive contribution to the debate shows that he's better fit to take Khaled's post.

“I commend Khairy. He's far more professional and intellectual in this matter and should be appointed higher education minister to replace Khaled (right).

“When it comes ot the PTPTN polemics, Khaled failed to come forward with his arguments, but subcontracted the case to Khairy while quielty taking harsh action against Unisel students,” he said.

'PTPTN an Umno-BN political agent' 

Meanwhile, PKR Youth has alleged that PTPTN’s decision on Unisel students only proves it is an Umno-BN political agent, which has a stranglehold on the Higher Education Ministry.

PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin (right), in condemning the PTPTN action, said it was not surprising as it was Umno which continue to asssail the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government, calling on them to finance tertiary education especially for Unisel and Kolej University Islam Selangor (KUIS) students.

“In a dialogue session with Selangor Menteri Besar Khalid Ibrahim recently, he (Khalid) had mentioned such a possibility happening to Unisel and KUIS students. PKR Youth proposes that the Selangor government come up with an action plan to absorb the costs of the new students registering at the two institutions.

“Hence we urge the Selangor government to weigh such options now as the need had become apparent,” said Shamsul Iskandar in a statement.

The PKR Youth chief also sarcastically urged PTPTN to continue with its vengeful vendetta as it will increase Pakatan’s support over the abolishing the national loan scheme as a relevant issue in the coming 13th general election.

Shamsul also pointed out that Rafizi had also stressed during his debate with Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaludin that the Selangor government had already had to absorb the high costs for the construction of both institutions of higher learning and its administration, which it inherited from BN in 2008.

The costs of Unisel’s construction is said to be more than the amount used for the construction of the Nottingham University campus, which is privately owned.