National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan borrowers have been given nine days – from July 17 to July 25 – to update PTPTN with their latest income information.

If they fail to do so, PTPTN would presume that the borrowers are not interested in applying to defer their loan repayment.

PTPTN chairman Wan Saiful Wan Jan, announcing this on Monday, said PTPTN is carrying out the information-gathering exercise before implementing the loan payment deferment for those earning under RM4,000 a month.

“All borrowers who still have outstanding loans are required to update their income information online through PTPTN’s website.

“If they fail to do so within the stipulated period, we will assume that the borrowers aren’t interested in deferring their loan repayment period,” he told a press conference at Menara PTPTN.

He said apart from the income information, borrowers also need to update their personal details such as address, phone number and email address.

Wan Saiful said PTPTN is hoping that relevant agencies such as the Finance Ministry, Inland Revenue Board (IRB) and Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will help in terms of data-sharing to facilitate the process.

“We are facing obstacles in obtaining the data as this information is protected under the Personal Data Protection Act 2010. As such, we are appealing to the relevant agencies as well as the borrowers themselves to help PTPTN with updating the information,” he said.

“In any case, the loan deferment is not a ticket to escaping from paying their loans. All loans must be settled, even if it is done bit by bit.

“PTPTN is targeting a RM4 billion collection this year to enable other people who wish to apply for PTPTN loans,” he said.

He said that as of June, a total of 429,945 borrowers have been removed from the Immigration Department’s blacklist, in line with the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s manifesto to help the borrowers.

Meanwhile, Wan Saiful also denied that his appointment as the new PTPTN chairman runs contrary to PH’s manifesto.

PTPTN, he said, is a statutory body. This, he said, means that his appointment did not go against PH’s manifesto on not allowing political appointments, as that only applies to government-linked companies (GLCs).

“Yes, political appointments are against the PH manifesto, but it only applies to positions within GLCs, not statutory bodies.

“This issue was deliberately raised. I invite those who are criticising this appointment to re-read the manifesto,” he said.

Wan Saiful’s appointment as PTPTN chairman on June 18 had been criticised by some quarters, who claimed that it went against PH’s manifesto of taking a stand against political appointments.

Wan Saiful is also the political secretary to Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik.

Source: NST