OMJ has sent me a copy of letter he had written to PTPTN on the unreasonable interest demanded for the balance of loan, illustrating that the PTPTN is suffering from “incompetence compounded”.
This is OMJ’s letter to PTPTN:
Dear sir,
i am OMJ, (I/C given) a ptptn loan borrower. i previously got a loan from ptptn to further my studies and after i graduate i immediately sent an email to ptptn, asking your ministry to deduct my loan repayment from my salary, but there was no answer from your ministry until end of last year which said that you all will process my request but then i found out during the “no answer period”, i was being charged with interest which purely no fault of mine.
A few days ago i got another letter telling me that i still a balance of RM 355.90 unpaid. This is very unfair to me. I, an honest citizen, trying to repay my loan, but because due to your ministry’s ineffeciency, i have keep interest which i myself do not even know.
Is it how an honest person is being treated? And i have tried to check my balance on your website but i was always unable to load the page. SO i am kept in the dark of my balance while your ministry keep sending my letter, telling me of balances which i do not even know existed, to pay up.
This is very unfair to me. A letter was sent from your ministry to me asking me to send RM 1779.50 in 5th February 2007 and i have sent a check on 12th February 2007. So what is this RM 355.90. Why am i being bullied for being a good citizen?
I am writing to you sir so i can able to bring up this matter, it’s not that students do not want to pay up but it’s the ptptn’s fault for not collecting the loan repayment and for oppressing good citizens like me who wants to pay back as soon as possible.
Thank you for your time.With regards,
OMJp/s Monthly deduction from my salary for my loan repayment was started since march 2007, thus where did this RM 355.90 came from?
#1 by k1980 on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 10:24 am
Malaysia’s latest Abang Ah Long— the ptptn. You pay for your loan twice: when you get it and when it gets you
#2 by TruthEnquirer on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 11:09 am
It is obvious that it is PTPN’s lache in not responding in timely way. If you feel grateful for the Loan you pay the RM 355.90, a small price to pay for the other party’s inefficiency, even if you were not at fault. If you desist from paying on high grounds of principle, no one will fault you and PTPN will also not take legal action against you, the costs of such action being more, and besides the RM 355.90 is an infinitesimal small drop in the pool that it is not getting back from student defaulters many of whom think that the loans are part of the NEP.
#3 by sheriff singh on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 11:33 am
I think OMJ is also at fault here. When he graduated, he should have written an official letter to PTPTN with his instructions, not merely sending an e-mail.
Many government departments and similar offices will read and ignore e-mails and they do not also print them out i.e. get a hard copy. Letters o the other hand will be received and filed in the student’s records. OMJ should also perhaps have written in in English maybe as many people don’t speak or write English, even Malaysian English, these days.
OMJ should have written in further with his enquiries and asked for a statement if these were not sent to him regularly (as what banks would do). Do not rely too much on their websites as these at times can be totally out of date, not working or misleading.
This does not of course absolve PTPTN from providing timely and efficient services to its customers i.e. the borrowers, but you must understand they have typical civil service mentality, are bureaucratic and are generally lethargic.
If OMJ is in town and being a responsible borrower, he should perhaps fix an appointment and sort out his case and move on.
OMJ has had a taste of the real world and he would no doubt encounter many, many, many more similar frustrations over his life time. He should not whine, complain and get his blood pressure up every time but to take these as part of life and he should be strong enough to meet all challenges and obstacles. Remember Oolong Tea? Life is not perfect and is certainly not a bed of roses.
My final comment is that Mr OMJ did not say which University he graduated from but his letter gives us an indication and insight of the education standards and the standard of English that is being used today.
Cheers on a Sunday, bro.
#4 by TruthEnquirer on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 12:04 pm
“I think OMJ is also at fault here. When he graduated, he should have written an official letter to PTPTN with his instructions, not merely sending an e-mail”.
A lot of tax payers money is allocated to promote e government. think OMJ is also at fault here. The Higher Education Ministry itself tells everyone that their statements showing information oÂÂn the transactions oÂÂn student loans are accessible via the Web at http://www.emoe.gov.my.ptptn and that is part of the steps taken to increase PTPTN services to resolve all problems faced by the borrowers. It is hardly an excuse then for anyone to say that it is reality on the ground that their officials ignore emails. If that is a reality, then PTPTN should underwrite its own shortcomings and absorb RM 355.90. Why do we taxpayers have to underwrite huge sums spent on establishing hardware and software on an e-government whose cronies reap the benefit of supplying the ICT that its employees do not use to our benefit?
#5 by grace on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 2:11 pm
My daughter was given the pin or password to assess her account. Shit!!! just like the letter above said – cannot be assessed. Just tunjuk only la! Maybe this is to show our stupid ministers like Pak Lah, Najib or Hisham that they have gone high tech. In actual fact – NUTS. You can try other government website. I think 80% are tunjuk-tunjuk saja.
#6 by Libra2 on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 4:19 pm
Sheriff Singh said ,”My final comment is that Mr OMJ did not say which University he graduated from but his letter gives us an indication and insight of the education standards and the standard of English that is being used today.”
Sheriff, your English may be good but please don’t judge the writer and his university based on just one letter. I would say his Englsih is better than some top civil servants and Ministers in the country.
You should confine your post to the issue at hand and not make unsolicited judgement.
#7 by grace on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 6:23 pm
Libra2,
you are absolutely right in your comment on the writer’s language.
I would say that the letter was well written in view of his/her exposure to English.
And it is very true that the language in this letter is so much better than many Government top civil servants or teachers.
#8 by DiaperHead on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 7:25 pm
Sheriff the Singh,
He may not have as good a control of the English language as you have. But no one should be chastised for his lack of control of a language for merely wanting the attention of his government so that he could discharge his duties as an honest citizen properly.
On the other hand he may not have that many years to his name as someone who has been drinking cow milk more years than he cares to count.
#9 by lakshy on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 9:51 pm
Just keep quiet and pay. Its to make up for the majority who dont pay and dont get charged interest. You want to stay in our country, you better pay. Its a privilege that you are enjoying in thsi country. So be grateful!
#10 by shortie kiasu on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 9:57 pm
I support fully the fair and just view of Libra2, Grace and DiapperHead; unlike some who tried to show his own self-righteousness, that he thought he deserves, but, in actual fact, he does not.
#11 by khch01 on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 10:57 pm
PTPTN should have paid attention to all the emails / letters from the borrowers whether it is about repayment or other issues. Unless government wish to treat ptptn loan just like any mara loans, i.e. repayment is not necessary.
#12 by terencesgk on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 11:16 pm
This doesn’t seem to be something new. My sister was complaining to me that this hopeless ptptn sent her a letter asking her to update her “status” months after she settled her loan, in one lump sum when she came back for vacation. She is working overseas at this moment. I just wonder how “updated” is this ptptn database of their loan borrowers is.
Sherrif singh, I certainly don’t think OMJ is at fault here. Let me offer you a scenario and I hope you can answer my question truthfully. Let say you take a loan from a bank and communicate to the bank through email (a mode of communication provided by the bank) to have a standing instruction to pay for the loan (which the bank duly comply without any further communication). Then, out of the blue, you receive a letter demanding interest payment for a certain sum. What would you do? Would you say that it’s partly your fault. You don’t have to answer me. I am sure both of us would know what your answer is.
I do agree that the standard of English used by OMJ is a bit off (although I don’t have a good command of English either). We proudly claim that Malaysians bi- or tri- lingual but the reality is that we are good in almost none. Believe me, some Malays don’t even have a good command of proper Malays. Likewise, there are a lot of Chinese who don’t know how to speak Chinese and feel extremely proud of that. I really pity this group of Chinese; they speak English but Malaysian version of English that most native speaker of English has problem understanding, and they’re proud of it. Probably we can call it “Malaysian Syndrome” as like what we see in the PTPTN case, Malaysian are proud of their e-this and e-that while the fact is that these “e”s are not really as good as what they claim (due to incompetencies in their design or implementation).
#13 by khch01 on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 11:25 pm
Good news. Federal Territories Ministry secretary-general Datuk Ahmad Phesal Talib (New Sunday Time 24 June) said ” All emails received will be answered on the same day and genuine complaints will be investigated and resolved as soon as possible” That is actually an obligation the Government Servants owed to the tax payers. But unfortunately most government servants have the attitude / thinking that the it is the obligation of the tax-payers to beg for their services. That forces that the tax-payer to pay “minum tea ” money to the officers in order to get the service done and the tax-payers would be blamed / penalized for their action and not the government servants inaction.
Nowadays passport could be renewed on the same day and there is little or no room at all for bribery anymore. Congratulation to the Immigration Dept for being efficiency and that is the way to combat corruption.
#14 by sheriff singh on Sunday, 24 June 2007 - 11:35 pm
Read carefully and understand. Dont jump to your conclusions or take cheap pot shots as is your usual.
I did not chastise or criticise him. But merely said it gives us an insight as to the standard of English as it is spoken and written today especially by graduates. No wonder we have many unemployable graduates who also whine a lot and not take efforts to sort out life’s many problems but thinks the world owes them a living.
If you have noted from the several other letters written in to Kit by graduates and students in recent months on several issues, you too would be appalled. Perhaps the powers there be would take note and take positive action to arrest this deteriorating problem. Perhaps the blog owner might even wish to put up a seperate posting on this topic.
We were once on the forefront on the usage of English but sadly today even Indonesians, Thais, mainland Chinese can put us all to shame. They have taken the centerstage in the world’s arena. You should all therefore clamour for positive action instead of taking your usual cheap daily pot shots and think you are mighty smart or righteous.
Also note that although much money have been spent on e-government etc, in reality a lot needs to be desired. Do not expect everything to be in tip-top shape in Bolehland but DO expect alot of failings to be sorted out the Bolehland way.
Amen.
#15 by sheriff singh on Monday, 25 June 2007 - 12:08 am
terencegsk.
It is interesting you cite this scenario. As one who is not resident in Bolehland, I gave a standing instruction to my bank like you said before I left. No action by this international bank who thinks (and perhaps act) as locals do.
So I phoned them my personal banker who promised a lot of things. Still alot of mess. Whose fault was it? Mine? Theirs? Or could it be the electronic systems which are inflexible and not able react like humans could. Or did I fail to checked all the relevant boxes, left out something, commited a typing error, mail lost in cyberspace etc etc? A thousand and one possible reasons that gave rise to the problem.
If you have a problem, what would be most important would be to sort out the problem and get things up and running quickly and smoothly. And this unfortunately will require some positive action and effort.
My problems with this bank and another local bank took 3 months to resolve. Face it, nothing is perfect and glitches will happen from time to time. If it happens to you, thats tough luck but who’s immune? Thats what make life interesting and frustrating.
Hope all your transactions will be smooooooth and problem free.
#16 by sheriff singh on Monday, 25 June 2007 - 12:33 am
OMJ could have written in in Bahasa instead of English as many civil servants don’t speak or write English and maybe letters in English are given low or no priority or attention.
So OMJ’s problem could also have been created by him.
I hope he resolves his problem soon.
#17 by TruthEnquirer on Monday, 25 June 2007 - 12:35 am
Don’t think posters here are just “jumping to conclusions or taking cheap pot shots as is your usual”.
This is no big issue but, though may not be intended, what was said did come across to some of us as condescending.
When one comments that OMJ’s letter “gives us an indication and insight of the education standards and the standard of English that is being used todayâ€Â, it may well be criticism directed at our Ministry of Education but it does not mean the person, who is a product of its policies, will be spared from the fallout of that criticism. One cannot, for example, condemn a tertiary institution as substandard and yet expect its alumni not to feel depreciated. This is especially so when the OMJ had been patronised by thje further suggestion that he had not sufficient “taste of the real world†by whining, complaining and getting his blood pressure up every time. Perhaps he is not just whining for the sake of whining but is merely bringing to the attention of this blog here how, from his experience, he or any one of us might be victimized by a government agency like PTPTN not through our own default but its own inefficiency and lache.
Here we have different people of different language facility and the overriding interest is to hear the contents of the message than to evaluate the messenger’s command of the language to communicate them.
If we are to continue to receive feedback on how in various way members of the public and rakyat are aggrieved by our bureaucrats’ inefficiency and lackadaisical attitude, then we should be sensitive not to criticize the messenger and his language that may deter him from daring, the next time around, to express his views freely in fear of exposing his language weakness, which he had been told in no uncertain terms, though he was supposed to be consoled that the criticism was not directed at him but the education system, as if it were a big consolation.
No offence, just my two cents worth.
#18 by TruthEnquirer on Monday, 25 June 2007 - 12:44 am
We all know that through no fault of our own our English is screwed up by the government’s policy of last two decades that has marginalised that important language essential for acquisition of knowledge and an international language of commerce and communication. So by all means criticise that policy but be careful not to use anyone of us as an example of how that policy is screwed because it hurts to be reminded that we have been screwed as well in the language by the policy imposed on to us over which we could not elect out.
#19 by dawsheng on Monday, 25 June 2007 - 2:22 am
Looks like Abdullah’s new public delivery system has not been hooked up yet, without a hooked up public delivery system, who cares about being a good citizen? Be the robbers or be a rapist, you still can get away with it, isn’t it wonderful?
#20 by Godamn Singh on Monday, 25 June 2007 - 2:40 am
“Sheriff, your English may be good but please don’t judge the writer and his university based on just one letter.”
I don’t think his English is that good. Lots of grammatical errors, spelling errors, wrong phraseology and wrong use of words etc.
#21 by megaman on Monday, 25 June 2007 - 9:55 am
Weird how the discussion turned to the English proficiency of the letter’s author ?
Have to agree that the letter doesn’t sound ‘formal’ enough or properly written in Queen’s English but does it matter when the issue highlighted in the letter is as clear as daylight.
PTPTN has been plagued by inefficient and messy administration for a long long time. And I dare say, the same goes for a lot of other government agencies and offices (except perhaps the tax collection department). This is the major problem in Malaysia;
if it’s not lack of planning or ad hoc measures, then it’s bad planning, if it’s not bad planning then it’s lack of proper execution.
What does it take to make civil servants take their jobs seriously ?
What does it take to get the proper people in the proper positions of power to make things change for the better ?
#22 by justiciary on Monday, 25 June 2007 - 10:41 am
Just ponder who is the greatest culprit who spearheaded the bahasa policy in the early eighties and caused the deplorable standard of the English today.So cast your votes wisely this coming GE.
#23 by Godfather on Monday, 25 June 2007 - 1:12 pm
I agree with the two Singhs that the English used by OMG is not good, and will not meet the standards required for international commercial practice. For those of you who say that we should cut OMG some slack, and that OMG’s English is somehow good enough to communicate with the civil servants in Malaysia, let me redirect you to the thread where Nazri says that the government is happy with Malaysia being in the top 50 premier league of nations under the corruption index. Look at the number of writers who have chastised Nazri for his low standards.
#24 by Godamn Singh on Monday, 25 June 2007 - 11:58 pm
“I don’t think his English is that good. Lots of grammatical errors, spelling errors, wrong phraseology and wrong use of words etc.” GodamnSingh
By this I mean the other Singh i.e. the one who likes to drink cows milk with ginger.
#25 by pgkia on Tuesday, 26 June 2007 - 9:15 am
I’m also a PTPTN loan borrower. Few years back when back in university days, usually PTPTN will transfer a sum of the loan to the university finance dept every trimester. Deductions on tuition fees and so forth will be done and the balance will be banked in to our respective bank accounts.
One of the trimesters, i checked on the balance statement and found that PTPTN has transferred to us shortage of between RM100-150 (my friends faced the same problem too) and enquiries was done to my uni finance dept and to PTPTN itself. A reply from PTPTN was the shortage was due to some reasons or so and this amount will be deducted when we start repaying back the loan arter graduation ( i can’t retrieve that email as my email account was not in used anymore). Up till now, i do not see that deduction been done based from my balance loan statement.
Another thing, when we signed our loan agreement previously, there was no such thing as if the borrower is a first class honor graduate, he/she can be exempted to repay back the loan. However, some of my friends from my batch were entitled to do so (after the announcement by the government). This is not fair to the rest of us.
#26 by k1980 on Tuesday, 26 June 2007 - 10:54 am
Unable to repay loans because they are unemployable?
http://malaysia-today.net/blog2006/newsncom.php?itemid=5786
only 395 of the 1,456 students who had benefited from the programme had settled their study loans.