‘Petronas should underwrite our PTPTN loans’

It's a 'pity, pity, end' for jobless Sabahans, who had taken study loans from PTPN.

KOTA KINABALU: A citizens movement in Sabah, calling themselves ‘Oil for Future Movement’ (OFF) wants Petronas to repay all the PTPTN (National Higher Education Fund Corporation) study loans taken by Sabahan students.

OFF chairman Phillip Among said it is only logical for Petronas to help out Sabah students if the federal government wants to give real meaning to its slogan “People First, Performance Now”.

He said thousands from Sabah who had taken study loans from the government-controlled PTPTN are now jobless and have become victims of the scheme which is now demanding they repay their respective aids.

“We have yet to determine exactly how many Sabahan students are victims but in every districts that I went, there were parents and students who complained to us.

“Some of the PTPTN borrowers have been barred from leaving Malaysia because of their defaulted loan repayment.

“But how could these students repay when they are jobless? They can’t even leave to try their luck for employment in other countries.

“Petronas which has been making huge profits from Sabah oil and gas must repay all these loans from PTPTN,” said Among, who is a businessman here.

He claimed that the amount of defaulted PTPTN study loans involving Sabah students “is not much” as compared to the profits Petronas had made out of Sabah oil an gas over a long years.

“PTPTN study loans taken by Sabahans could be less than 10% of the reportedly total amount defaulted to the tune of RM40 billion, much of it must have been taken by students from the rest 11 states in peninsular,” said Among.

‘Pity, pity end’

PTPTN was incorporated by the federal government to give out study loans to students pursuing tertiary education in Malaysia.

Among said the situation was now such that people didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at the aim of setting up PTPN, which had failed to synchronise with the realistic demand of skills and workforce in Malaysia.

“Some parents said PTPTN now stands for “pity, pity, end” and they could be true judging from this financial saga it has involved itself in disbursing state loans to students that could never be recovered even by half,” said Among.

A few days ago, OFF had also demanded that oil royalty for Sabah be backdated to 1976 and a statutory eight percent interest per annum be paid.

Among then said that Sabah political parties should insist on 70% percent oil royalty for the state and not just 25% or 30% as some of them have been demanding.

“This one-sided oil agreement evidently signed under extreme duress in 1976 between the federal government/Petronas and the Sabah and Sarawak state governments has come under increasing public scrutiny.

“We have lost huge opportunities not only on oil royalty but other related businesses and hence we are the poorest today in Malaysia. We must be compensated,” Among had said.