Decent Malaysians shared the sentiment of our prime minister when he lamented on the reluctance of students in repaying their study loans after graduating and working.

This malaise reflects the poor values and etiquette of Malaysian at large. By not repaying their study loans, these people are denying other poor undergraduates the chance to further their studies.

For the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) to be in the red of to the tune of RM7 billion is bad but for it to borrow RM2 billion from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) shows that public funds (taxpayers' money) are still being use to bail out failed projects.

In this case, the only saving grace is that poor students will gain benefit form the bailout. Sometimes, I think the culture of Malaysians is to strive to be rich by any means possible and this in turn results in young Malaysians not having the decency to pay up their dues.

In the United States and other Western countries, the high and mighty have to suffer the shame of being brought to court after they are brought to trial for their misdeeds such as the CEO and CFO of the mighty Enron which collapsed due to financial irregularities. Even the high-profile Martha Stewart had to go to jail for her crime .

One tend to be less sanguine in this blessed country of ours where the darling companies in the red are given massive government handouts while minority shareholders suffer the sins of their erstwhile CEOs who still walk free and filthy rich.

The graduates who did not repay their study loans must have felt it was all right as their amounts were small compared to the billions of unpaid loans taken from the local banks, the EPF and other public funds during the heyday of bull runs in the 80s and early 90s.

However, it would be good if these professional graduates like accountants, lawyers, engineers and doctors repay their loans without being asked and hopefully the government won't have to shame them in doing so by publishing their names and photos in the newspapers.

At the other end of the scale, government agencies such as the police, the Anti-Corruption Agency, the Securities Commission and Registrar of Companies should get their act together and bring to justice those captains of industry who have bled their companies dry.

We cannot allow any individual who has committed a white-collar crime to go scot-free with public funds being used to feed their lavish lifestyles.