PTPTN is not obligated to contribute RM1 million in zakat due to its financial position, said Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin.

Khairy said PTPTN is not meant to be a business and it needs to borrow from financial institutions in order to provide loans for students.

"PTPTN's debt to financial institutions is in excess of RM40 billion. It is clear there is no need for PTPTN to pay zakat," he said in a statement today.

Khairy said one prerequisite for zakat payments was to first have assets that had the potential to grow and he believed PTPTN didn't meet this condition.

According to PTPTN's annual report for 2016, the fund's liabilities stood at RM43,341,900,789 against RM50,910,610,455 in assets.

As pointed out in another Malaysiakini article, PTPTN has technically been in the black between 2011 and 2016 but only because of billions received in federal government grants.

Khairy also trained his crosshairs on PTPTN chairperson Wan Saiful Wan Jan over the zakat payments at a time when there was no clear repayment policy on outstanding student loans.

"Due to Wan Saiful, PTPTN has U-turned several times and the repayment issue cannot be resolved.

"Since Pakatan Harapan formed the government, PTPTN repayments have reduced because there is no longer a blacklist (on defaulters) and because (borrowers) are still hoping for a postponement in their repayments as promised by Harapan (initially).

"These are basic issues with Wan Saiful cannot resolve. Therefore, I'm not sure what is the basis for zakat payments by PTPTN or Wan Saiful," said Khairy.