Pakatan Harapan taken to court over 'unfulfilled' PTPTN election promise

Pakatan Harapan (PH) and two others were hauled to court over the issue of unfulfilled 14th General Election (GE14) election promises.

This especially on deferment of repayment of National High Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) study loans for those earning less than RM4,000 a month.

This was done though a lawsuit by five PTPTN loan borrowers against the corporation, PH and the government of Malaysia.

The plaintiffs - Andry Putra Haris, 28, Farah Athirah Kamarozaman, 27, and Mohamad Asrol Md Jailani, 26, are from Kuala Lumpur; while Mohamad Muzakkir Mohamad Ali, 26, and Mohammad Aswad Sobri, 34, were from Kedah - filed the Writ of Summons, through law firm Messrs Adnan Sharida & Associates, via the e-Filing system at the Kuala Lumpur High Court Registry this morning.

According to a copy of the Statement of Claim, the five claimed that the three defendants are contractually bound to deliver the promises in the manifesto due to their having secured victory in GE14.

They said Malaysians believe in and hold on to the promises as something true, binding and would be implemented, and that the faith of the people, especially voters, on the election manifesto would evaporate if it merely amounted to empty promises.

They said this is reinforced by PH’s promise to the people of Malaysia, including the five plaintiffs, that among the 10 promises that the political coalition - consisting of PKR, DAP, Bersatu, and Amanah - would implement during the first 100 days in power, are to postpone the need for those earning less than RM4,000 a month to repay their PTPTN loans.

They claimed that this particular promise is mentioned within other electoral promises that PH made, including the 5th Promise which promises to lessen the burden of living incurred by youths; and the 50th Promise on restoring the sanctity of public universities and institutions of higher learning, among others

“The contract was created when via the Buku Harapan at pages 1 and 2, the second defendant (PH) via (its chairperson and now prime minister) Dr Mahathir Mohamad on March 8, 2018 had offered to the whole people of Malaysia, including the plaintiffs, that all the promises contained in Buku Harapan.

There are promises that would be fulfilled by the second defendant for all Malaysian citizens when the second defendant formed the government of Malaysia, who is the third defendant,” the plaintiffs said through the Statement of Claim.

Andry, Farah, Asrol, Muzakkir, and Aswad alleged that despite having secured electoral victory on May 10, last year, and having administered the country for over a year, PH and the government still failed, refused and/or have been negligent in implementing most of the electoral promises contained in Buku Harapan.

The one in particularly on deferring the need for PTPTN borrowers to repay their loans if they currently earn less than RM4,000 a month.

“In fact, via a media conference by the first defendant (PTPTN) on July 16, 2018, the first defendant’s chairperson, Wan Saiful Wan Jan said that the implementation of the promise on PTPTN loan repayment for borrowers earning less than RM4,000 a month, would only be done following the completion of an in-depth study.

“However, the defendants still failed, refused and/or been negligent in fulfilling the promise and until today, there has been no further news about whether the study has been conducted or not,” the plaintiffs said.

They pointed out that Wan Jan, whom they said was one of the people who penned Buku Harapan.

He was quoted by an article by Bahasa Malaysia daily Berita Harian on Nov 10, 2019, had apologized over the deferment of the implementation of the Buku Harapan promise for borrowers making less than RM4,000 a month to postpone repayment of their PTPTN loans.

They said the news article reported Wan Jan making the apology during a speech at the 2018 federal territory-level Federation of Malay Students general assembly, where he allegedly admitted that the defendants failed to fulfil the promise on PTPTN loan repayment deferment.

“Even more shocking was that during the tabling of Budget 2020, there was no single proposal by the second and third defendants (PH and the government) over the defendants’ current framework or mechanism in relation to PTPTN loans.

“Therefore, the plaintiffs plead that the defendants are responsible collectively or separately to fulfil the promises in Buku Harapan, especially on the deferment of PTPTN loan repayment for borrowers earning less than RM4,000 a month,” they said.

The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the promises and Pakatan Harapan manifesto made in the run-up to GE14 is a contract that binds the political parties that won the election.

They seek an order to compel the defendants to postpone the repayment of PTPTN education loans by borrowers earning less than RM4,000 a month.

The plaintiffs also seek general and exemplary damages, cost, and any other relief deemed fit by the court.

When contacted, the plaintiffs’ lawyer Adnan Seman said that copies of the cause papers would be served on the three defendants soon, after the plaintiff’s lawyers have extracted copies from the Kuala Lumpur High Court Registry. - Mkini