Letters
SS
Let me first introduce myself, I am Tee from Klang, Selangor. I just graduate recently from Multimedia University with B.Eng(HONS) Electronics.
The PTPTN loan i had received is RM66,000. I wish to start my payment as soon as possible but i still very confuse about the current interest rate apply to all IPTA and IPTS students. From the statement i got from PTPTN, they said the old rate still applied, and when i phone them, they said that the conversion from old rate to 1% is still on progress, until then, we still have to follow the old rate.
Now the problem is, our PM announce that new rate which is 1% will start to take effect on June 2008. Why PTPTN still using the old rate? and it take so long to convert.
When i ask them when the conversion will finish, they say they cant give me exact date means we still have to wait and paying to old rate. i think that is not fair to all students in malaysia. At my opinion, PM should’nt make such announcement if it is not possible or take such long time to complete the conversion.
I hope Mr.Lim can help not just only me but all the students in malaysia about this matter. RM66,000 and the interest might be a small amount for government but it is a big amount for fresh graduates and those who have family to support plus with current economy slow down.
#1 by Godfather on Monday, 6 July 2009 - 10:08 pm
Although one can be sympathetic towards the plight of the students, one cannot help but cringe at the atrocious standard of English in our universities.
#2 by william62 on Monday, 6 July 2009 - 10:39 pm
SS, you need to struggle very hard and read more so that you can improve your English
#3 by the reds on Monday, 6 July 2009 - 10:40 pm
This is 1Malaysia!
#4 by Anti Corruption on Monday, 6 July 2009 - 11:04 pm
Dear SS, I would advise you to send this letter to our PM so that he knows yours and our nation’s plight on these two issues, the 1% interest rate and your command of English. God bless us.
#5 by william62 on Monday, 6 July 2009 - 11:32 pm
I am sure a primary six student in the 70’s and 80’s can write a better letter…….
#6 by vsp on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 6:51 am
Ouch, no need to be so uncharitable to one who is brave enough to articulate even though his English is not so sterling. Blame it on the nationalists myopic idiots who have caused our educated assets to deteriorate in the one currency that is a prerequisite in this modern era. If we don’t give proper encouragement for such brave people but denigrate them, how are they going to improve?
Yes SS read more and practise your new found skills by using the Internet regularly to improve your writing skill. If a baby refuses to walk because he/she is afraid of being laughed at, how is he going to learn how to walk?
#7 by chengho on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 7:43 am
SS and Tee ,
are u the same person or 2 of you? Anwar waiting for you..
#8 by k1980 on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 8:01 am
There are numerous grads with B.A.(HONS) English who can’t write half as well as SS. As for the 1% interest rate for PTPTN loans, SS will have to wait till the onset of the 13 GE in 3 years’ time. It will then be listed in BN’s election manifesto.
#9 by raven77 on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 8:31 am
Multimedia University ???…Hello SS…was your VC that Ghauth fella who is now VC of University Malaya…
About the 1% interest rate….I think going by your English…GOD NEEDS TO SAVE MALAYSIA FIRST!!!
#10 by oedipus on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 9:07 am
alamak chengho, regard the person as s.s.tee la. tee sze shan or something la.
#11 by Joshua on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 9:09 am
PTPTN needs to balance its books for the commitment to those soft loans esp from EPF.
So who are going to pay off those shortcomings unless EPF and its members bear the hidden losses for decades nor exacerbated by the PTPTN’s new proposed rate?
Najib just want to pretend with its “1′ in everything as if nothing else is the worry.
pw: ent remove
#12 by Joshua on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 9:10 am
correction
now [not nor] exacerbated by the PTPTN’s new proposed rate?
#13 by satyr on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 9:13 am
jokes and snarky comments about ss’ english aside, this is a contentious issue for many who are still repaying their loans. it is hoped that the calculations will be backdated so that the excess 2% that has been (and continues to be) paid will be deducted from the total amount outstanding so that, hopefully, full payment will be settled at an earlier date.
having said that, pigs will probably fly before all this happens so – what the fish lah ….
#14 by OrangRojak on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 9:14 am
What is this – shoot the messenger week? He is right to write a letter about his concerns.
If some of the ‘primary six students’ in the
70’s and 80’s70s and 80s (no need for apostrophes)canwere able to (because you’re writing about the past) write a better letter, perhaps they should have used their superior skills to do something about Malaysia’s politics before it got into such a sorry state.I see even Godfather put his comment through Google Translate on the [Bahasa Ingerris]->[Queen’s English] setting. When did one start using ‘one’, wan?
#15 by artemisios on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 9:15 am
Fellas let’s focus on the interest rate shall we?
If you guys verbally bash our young people up every time they bring something up, then we won’t be able to hear from them anymore in the future.
Yes, his command of the language is not as good as all of you up there, but SS DID get the message through.
So let’s move on. PTPTN’s still charging 3%, though they did say they will “back-date” all those interest charges “as soon as they are ready to implement 1%”. As usual they did not specify when they will “be ready for 1%”.
For your info SS, I have a friend who took the loan too. He took RM19,500.00 for a 3-year degree course in a public university. He’s paying back about RM200.00 per month, & he’s having a really hard time “fighting the interest charges”.
Plus, the economy is slowing down, & he had to take a major pay cut to stay employed. With his salary, he had to eat, pay bills, support his parents and so on. If he had to pay installments for a car/house he’d be dead as i type this comment.
I think he represents most of our young people today.
The interest is about RM48.00 per month, for a RM19k loan.
I can imagine how massive SS’ interest charges would be.
Well my opinion is PTPTN is too lazy to make simple changes. That’s why it took so long.
Thanks SS for bringing this up. I hope your message will somehow reach the govt, and the govt will somehow choose to listen.
#16 by OrangRojak on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 9:16 am
How embarrassing. Spelt Inggeris wrong… that’ll learn me
#17 by OrangRojak on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 9:29 am
artemisios Says: too lazy to make simple changes
When I first read Tee’s letter, I wondered if there was a psychotic accountant somewhere and a very stressed programmer, but I wonder if you’re right. It would be interesting to see what PTPTN’s explanation is. I had a look at their website, but I was at a disadvantage (see ‘can’t spell Inggeris’ above).
If there are no answers forthcoming right now, and no promise of a solution, I’d recommend to Tee that he [or she – see TheNutGraph? It’s working!] keeps very comprehensive records of his finances over the whole time he [or …] is repaying this loan (not just details of the loan repayments, but also records of any savings you have, as you’re losing interest on your own deposits, and any loans or missed credit card repayments you incur because of the additional burden of the high interest rate).
One day LGE will be Prime Minister, and then all Malaysians can sue his transparent and accountable government to bankruptcy for the financial problems BN causes the nation now.
#18 by Saint on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 9:33 am
Dear SS,
“Practice makes perfect,” so the idiom goes. Forget about the”intellectuals” who do not see the actual problem, but how it is phrased. I understand that English is not of your problem, but of the 20 over teachers who must have thought from standard one. As for the PTPTN loan, I hope “Uncle Kit” is wise enough to see the problem and not the English and takes some steps to highlight it. I doubt to see any quick solution to the problem. In the meantime, keep practicing in writing in the “English” you know as it is one of the ways to improve on it. Good Luck.
#19 by rabbit on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 10:06 am
well well, this another trick or magic show from our PM. said want to give candy, but only give the wraping paper. poor things….
#20 by inoato on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 10:24 am
Dear All,
This is about a promise by PM Najib and efficiency or should it be inefficiency of PTPTN. Lets focus on this rather than the language written. SS should be praised for highligting this issue. Most of the sarcastic comments if I am not wrong are from those who has made it in life. For people like SS; the 2% difference is alot of money. Uncle Lim, hope you can do something on this.
#21 by masamune on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 10:52 am
My my… aren’t ya’ll a bunch of grammar nazis.
I believe Tee’s message got through to yer thick skulls right? Isn’t that what’s important? Getting the message through?
Just stop being a troll mmkay? Grammar nazis on the net is just a bunch of OCD trolls.
#22 by knightgogo on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 11:05 am
yes SS English is not so good, so do I. This is not our fault. I suppose internet is one of the platforms that give us opportunity to improve our language. So friends, please do not make sarcastic comments on our poor English.
#23 by k1980 on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 11:11 am
Will the architects of the NEP denounce it as futile and immoral?
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article6652878.ece
#24 by UzMiNoOnist on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 11:30 am
SS, you should not complain!!
What is the fuss? Having benefited from the loan of RM 66,000 and now you bitch about interest rate?
If you find that your complaint is justifiable, try the banks and see how you’ll get snubbed.
Also, make sure you don’t own a credit card, you will faint knowing how they charge millions of Malaysian daily. Compare 17% to 1~2% p.a. is nothing.
I still can’t understand why you need to complain and to have Uncle Kit take up your case.
Do you care to explain why you deserve Uncle Kit’s attention. Don’t you think he got nothing else better to do?
#25 by UzMiNoOnist on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 11:37 am
Opps,
“Don’t you think he got nothing else better to do?”
should be read as
“Do you think that he got nothing else better to do?”
#26 by KeenWatcher_01 on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 11:40 am
Come on people, please be kind. I was most impressed and would like to congratulate SS for being so brave to write this letter. As long as we understand what he wanted to say it is a big bonus. Picking on his English is so cruel. Why don’t we be more generous and give more encouragement.
If we expect perfect English will never hear people calling for help. Please be understanding. No one is perfect.
#27 by anakbaram on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 11:42 am
This is one letter which says volumes about our Government with regard to work ethics (or non-ethic) and the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of its education policy. With this type of Government at the helm where can they lead the country but disaster.
#28 by tsn on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 12:57 pm
The way those with good English excoriate SS English, more or less tells why Malays vehemently idolize BM even to the extent of annihilating English. Since colonial day English proficiency is a status symbol. If you have good English, let be it, but not like a baloon inflated till flying off to the sky and look down upon those beneath you. Agree, without good English, you can’t progress. During Vietnam War, American told Vietnamese if you don’t embrace free market, you will be poor. Vietnamense “Yes, we will be poor, so what?”.
#29 by sheriff singh on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 2:02 pm
“Performance Now”? Bulls. Nothing seems to work in the government civil service.
What has happened to the case of MARA running out of money as one student complained of recently in this blog? Has she got her money? Are new study loans being given out?
As TDMM asked “Where has all of Petronas’ dividends to the government gone to?” Why is the government “pokai”?
#30 by monsterball on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 2:06 pm
SS wish to start his payment..but UMNO have thousands of Muslims…not interested to pay back loans!!
If….SS pays….UMNO.. not chasing after defaulters for years….all Malays.. are exposed…clearly proving UMNO is a racialist government.
Once awhile..cornered….and they sue.
Now so quiet..no suing…as Malaysians are not complaining.
UMNO hope SS will not pay..to make them look good…with all rces..not paying punctually.
High interest in on….to discourage him..to settle loans.
#31 by johnnypok on Tuesday, 7 July 2009 - 3:26 pm
If Najib can “makan” 500 million commision, I suggest to make the loan interest-FREE, and to give 100% free education up to university level.
#32 by AgileCZQ on Saturday, 8 August 2009 - 8:31 pm
According to
http://mahasiswakini.com/archives/569
Oh no….1% to be implemented only in Jan 2009…but now is already August 2009…few months more it would be 2010…
A lot of private U graduates thought of working in Singapore to speed up the loan refund 2.4 times faster because of the hugh loan burden on students and also due to cheap skilled worker wages in Malaysia. I am one of them…and no one guarantees whether we’ll be rooted in Spore.
Btw, I just simply skimmed through the original article without reading word by word, and his English does not bother me. I believe that it’s his intention to express it in the native Malaysian English way. If one works in a MNC, one has to deal with people from different variations of English “dialects” around the globe and be smart and quick to catch what is being expressed, no one would expect a perfect English speaker in the real world. Anyway, his profession is not a opinion article writer, I am sure he will express pretty well when it comes to Engineering Technical writing.
1%…1%…1%….