Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) chairperson Annuar Musa has been urged to list down Mara’s education loan schemes that are open for applications.

PKR parliamentarian Rafizi Ramli said this is because checks on Mara’s website showed that none of the education loan schemes were open to applicants.

Mara’s Sistem Pinjaman Pelajaran, Sistem MyEduloan and Sistem e-Pendahuluan are all closed for applications, he said in a statement today.

This, Rafizi said, had only confused and was a source of concern among parents and students, especially after the government’s decision to cut the allocation for education, including Public Service Department scholarships.

“When Mara did not come clean on the matter, it’s a source of concern on Mara’s true capabilities to fund the education of the bumiputera,” he said.

The PKR vice-president said he was always contacted by parents and students who were offered Mara education loan schemes on the problems they faced.

“What I can surmise from the complaints is that Mara seems to be having problems in carrying out its responsibility to fund the education of bumiputera students although the chairperson (Annuar) has said otherwise,” he said.

Citing an example, Rafizi ( photo ) said a majority of Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL) students were offered to study at the university on the agreement that their fees and living allowance would be channelled through a Mara loan.

But after starting their studies, they did not receive any offers by Mara to finance their studies.

“When they contacted Mara, they were told that applications are still closed and the students were then told by the university that they need to finance their studies through other means.”

In the end, students were told to obtain loans from the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN), Rafizi said.

Therefore, apart from listing down Mara’s education loan schemes, Rafizi also wants Annuar to state whether UniKL students will be given their student loans by Mara as promised to them initially.

“(Annuar must also) state the amount of allocation given by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to Mara for education from the year 2009 to 2016,” he said.

Mara had denied that it was running out of funds and said its scholarships are still being offered despite reduced funding.

However, the status of Mara education loans remains unclear.

A UniKL student, who only wanted to be known as Faris, had told Malaysiakini that he is now in limbo as he does not have money to continue his studies.

Faris said he applied online for Mara's education loan in November last year but the agency has yet to respond.