Once a critic, Adam now backs travel ban on PTPTN loan defaulters

PARLIAMENT | In 2019, as a vocal student activist, Adam Adli Abdul Halim accused National Higher Education Fund’s (PTPTN) then-chairperson Wan Saiful Wan Jan of “bastardising” the organisation.

This came after it was suggested that a travel ban - which was lifted in 2018 - be reinstated.

Now serving as the deputy higher education minister, Adam seemed to have reversed his stand and backed reimposing a travel ban on loan defaulters.

However, Adam claimed that the travel ban imposed by the Madani administration was different from that of the previous BN administration.

“As we explained earlier, the blacklisting (on PTPTN loan defaulters) now is not a blanket one, unlike what was done by the previous administration.

“In fact, we only take firm action on select cases, such as imposing the ban on those who refuse to pay despite having the means to do so.

“And only 0.7 percent of the total borrowers are delinquent; this involves fewer than 3,000 out of the 417,000 total borrowers listed as defaulters (by PTPTN),” he said in the Dewan Rakyat today.

The deputy minister was responding to a supplementary question posed by Richard Rapu (GPS-Betong).

Earlier, Richard asked Adam about the timeline needed for re-evaluating the blacklisting policy, particularly for borrowers in the B40 group, to ensure it takes into account the job market realities and the cost of living.

Fierce criticism

Seven years ago, Adam berated Wan Saiful over the idea despite the then-education minister Maszlee Malik clarifying that it did not come from PTPTN.

The ban was lifted in June 2018, shortly after Pakatan Harapan came into power.

After Adam became the deputy higher education minister last month, Wan Saiful, now an opposition MP, returned fire and urged the PKR leader not to “bastardise” PTPTN.

“In the past, there was one individual who accused me of ‘bastardising’ PTPTN. Now the individual has become the deputy higher education minister.

“Let’s see what he does to ensure PTPTN doesn’t become the most ‘bastardised’ institution in history,” Wan Saiful said.

Reporting by Haspaizi Zain, Hariz Mohd, Dania Kamal Aryf

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