Malaysia’s PTPTN Promise Is Back, Voters Have Heard This Before
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has revived talk of abolishing the national student loan scheme — a promise his coalition first made in 2013, scaled back in 2018, and has yet to deliver.
The promise to abolish Malaysia’s national student loan scheme has resurfaced in Parliament.
For millions of borrowers, it is a familiar sound.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today (14 July) he would discuss the possible abolishment of the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) with Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir — the latest in a string of commitments on the issue stretching back more than a decade.
The remarks came after a member of parliament from his own coalition raised the issue during Question Time, pointing out that the Johor Menteri Besar had used the unfulfilled promise to attack Pakatan Harapan (PH) during the recent Johor state elections — elections that Barisan Nasional (BN) won decisively, claiming 48 of 56 seats.
A Promise With a Long Paper Trail
The pledge to scrap PTPTN is not new; it was first made by Pakatan Rakyat — the predecessor to the current PH coalition — ahead of the 2013 general election.
When PH won the 2018 election, even that scaled-back promise fell apart — the government apologised, citing a debt past RM40 billion, and a subsequent attempt to introduce mandatory salary deductions was abandoned after public backlash.
The MP who raised the issue today, Khoo Poay Tiong of Kota Melaka, pointed to a specific contradiction: the Johor Menteri Besar had criticised PH for the unfulfilled promise, despite the current Higher Education Minister — the minister directly responsible for PTPTN — being from BN, not PH.
Anwar did not address that point directly; coalition leaders have since confirmed that full abolition is off the table.
Rafizi himself has stated publicly that while the debt was manageable in 2013, it has since grown beyond what restructuring can absorb.
