“For existing borrowers, there are legal implications as both parties are bound by contract, ” its director of strategy Rafizi Ramli told Malaysiakini today, lamenting that the loan freeze is the “lowest of the low” he had seen in Malaysian politics thus far.
He pointed out that those who shall suffer in this political punch-up are the students who depend on the loans to further their education.
Furthermore, he said that the loan fund’s total exclusion of the Selangor-owned university’s students is causing hardship for enrolling students who are caught unawares.
Rafizi (right),
however, argued that contractual obligations between PTPTN and the
students run both ways, which may leave room for legal recourse to
students who are victims of PTPTN’s arbitrary actions.“We are looking at the individual loan agreements to see if the loan fund has the right to arbitrarily terminate the loans.”
Should they find any legal grounds, PKR will then look for students who are willing to come forward to sue PTPTN, adding that this is because only the students have the locus standi, being a party to the agreement with the education loan fund.
PTPTN’s decision to freeze loans for Unisel students has sparked an outcry among Pakatan Rakyat leaders and the Selangor government.
Following that, Higher Education Minister Khaled Nordin on micro-blog site Twitter, had admonished opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s call to students who had taken loans with PTPTN not to make repayments as the reason for the loan freeze.
The minister also teased 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.
The open challenge by the federal ministry against Pakatan policy promises was endorsed by Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin who today said that it is “fair”.
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