Abolishing the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN) and writing off outstanding loans have struck a sour chord among Malaysians - at least for those active on the microblogging site Twitter.

About 70 percent of those on Twitterjaya, as it is fondly called, who joined the debate on the matter have said no to the proposal to do away with PTPTN and write off students’ debts.

NONE According to independent research house Politweet, which analyses the interaction of Malaysians with politicians on social media, most of them feel taking a loan “carries a moral obligation”.

The analysis conducted on 31,639 tweets by 5,627 users show that only about 13 percent supported the move to write off the loans.

About 18 percent who used the hashtag #mansuhPTPTN (abolist PTPTN) between April 5 and April 21 had “no opinion” on the matter.

“An estimated 280 users (five percent of total) who did not support the cause are willing to support the reduction or writing off the loan interest,” Politweet found.

Besides moral obligation, those who oppose say that writing off loans “insults those who work hard” as there is a “sense of pride” which comes with working hard to pay off loans.

The twitter users also said that free education “must be earned” and that loans should only be converted into scholarships if the students get good grades.

There was also concern that taxpayers are shouldering the burden of free education, and that it would be unfair to abolish only PTPTN loans and not other education loans.

Those opposing also reject proposals that the government shoulder students’ cost of living which make up 50-80 percent of the PTPTN loans.

They also believe that free education promotes “poor competition” and does not solve the problems of lack of skills, job opportunities and poor grades.

No clear reasons

On the flip side, supporters are reported to be unable to give a clear reason for supporting the abolition of PTPTN and writing off student loans.

“Most gave no reason for their support other than 'why not?',” Politweet observed.

NONE Others cited financial scandals like the Port Klang Free Zone and National Feedlot Corporation as reasons to show that the government can afford to pay for free tertiary education.

Supporters also condemned the harsh repayment terms for the loans, including the barring of defaulters from leaving the country.

They also believe the interest rate is too high, that conversion to scholarships were restricted and the high cost of living made repayment difficult.

Politweet also observed high anti-Umno and anti-Barisan Nasional sentiment among those who supported the abolition of PTPTN and writing off the loans.

PKR has proposed abolishing PTPTN loan, and replacing it with more fully government-funded public university places.

The opposition party also proposes that the government provide living allowances to students and loans for private institutions students, specifically for those who fail to secure places in public universities due to space constraint.

While it does not moot writing off outstanding loans, PKR suggests returning portions of the PTPTN which have already been paid in the form of proportional rebates.

Umno Youth on the other hand propose revising repayment terms for the loans.