Compulsory pay deduction for PTPTN borrowers

TEMERLOH – The National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) will carry out compulsory salary deduction to recover loans from defaulters from June next year.Its chairman, Ismail Mohamed Said, said that effective June, all PTPTN borrowers, especially the more than 46,000 defaulters, would be required to make their loan repayments through salary deduction to the Inland Revenue Board (IRB).


He said its implementation would involve amendments to the National Higher Education Fund Act 1997, adding that a proposal to amend the law would be tabled in Parliament next year."We will discuss the proposed amendments to the PTPTN Act at the end of the month with the IRB and the proposal will be tabled in Parliament in March next year," he told reporters at a Aidifiltri gathering here Sunday.

He said the corporation would also wait for the government's decision on the minimum salary requirement for the compulsory salary deduction on PTPTN borrowers.Such a move had to be taken so as not to deprive others the opportunity to obtain PTPTN loans to further their studies, he added.He said about 46,000 of the 1.6 million people who had obtained PTPTN loans had yet to make their repayments despite the facilities made available for them, like through salary deductions, at bank counters and through on-line payments.

Ismail said that since 1997 until July this year, PTPTN had given out loans totalling RM23 billion."As of last July, we should have collected RM3.6 billion in loan repayment, but the collection was only RM1.8 billion," he said in a Bernama report.He said only 42% or 600,000 of the 1.6 million PTPTN borrowers had repaid their loans so far.In a related development, Human Resource Minister Dr S.Subramaniam urged employers to back the government's proposed minimum wage policy to ensure its smooth implementation, hopefully by next year.

He said employers should not be worried or regard the policy as hampering business."Our intention is not to burden the employers. We are only going to set a minimum level in terms of salary, and it is up to the employers to pay whatever amount beyond that level to their employees," he told reporters.Yesterday, Dr Subramaniam was quoted as saying that the minimum wage model would be across the board for all sectors, but it would vary regionally.

Source : http://www.malaysianmirror.com/media-buzz-detail/6-nation/49409-compulsory-pay-deduction-for-ptptn-borrowers-