Every sen must be repaid, says Mara chairman

 Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki says pursuing defaulting borrowers through the courts is a key priority to ensure that public funds can be recovered and channelled back to benefit others in need.

Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said Mara has no right to compromise or forgive deliberate defaulters because every sen disbursed as a loan is public money entrusted to it. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA:

Mara chairman Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki has pledged that there will be no compromise with students who deliberately default on their education loan repayments, saying the money advanced to them belongs to the people.

He said that since taking on the role of Mara chairman, pursuing defaulting borrowers through the courts had been one of his key priorities to ensure that every sen of public funds is recovered and channelled back to benefit others in need.

“The directive from the Mara Council to the management is crystal clear: do not entertain requests for exemptions, even from influential individuals, regardless of how high their position may be,” he said in a Facebook post.

Asyraf said some were questioning Mara’s decision to take defaulting borrowers to court.

“We have no right to compromise or forgive deliberate defaulters because every sen disbursed as a loan is public money entrusted to us,” he said.

His statement comes a day after the High Court in Sungai Petani dismissed an appeal by a woman and her three guarantors against a sessions court ruling ordering them to repay RM857,000 in education loans to Mara.

In that case, the woman received the first Mara loan in 2011 to pursue a master’s degree at the University of Manchester, and a second loan in 2013 for a PhD programme at the University of Cambridge.

The court upheld the terms of Mara’s 2013 offer letter and loan agreement, which required the woman to complete her PhD studies within four years.

The woman failed to complete her studies even after being granted an extension. The court held that her failure to complete the programme within the stipulated timeframe, including the extension period, amounted to a breach of contract. - FMT