In a statement issued today, Rafizi also urged Mara Chairman Annuar Musa to list all educational schemes sponsored by the authority for Malay and Orang Asal students.
“In particular, he (Annuar) should state whether Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UKL) students are being sponsored by Mara as promised.”
He also wanted Annuar to reveal how much funding was released by Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is also Finance Minister, for Mara students from 2009 to 2016.
Rafizi made this call after having been approached numerous times by parents and students who complained of the problems they faced dealing with Mara on educational sponsorships. “The picture that emerges is that Mara was facing difficulties in carrying out its responsibilities towards students. The picture is not like what Annuar portrays.”
Citing UKL, Rafizi explained that Mara initially agreed that loans given to students would cover cost of living allowances besides fees. “After the students began with UKL, they learnt from Mara that applications for loans have not been opened.”
He said students were then advised to seek loans elsewhere and that Mara offered to help facilitate such loans from private sources but since the interest rates were too high, many were forced to turn to PTPTN although these did not provide sufficient cost of living allowances.
Investigating the issue further, the MP discovered that Mara had yet to open any of its educational sponsorship programmes.
He listed the following websites: eduloan.mara.gov.my; https://myeduloan.mara.gov.my; and http://online06.mara.gov.my/ependahuluan/index.php?method=ShowHome which gives out an advance of RM2,000 to help with enrolment expenses.
Hoping to get to the bottom of the issue, Rafizi announced the setting-up of a complaints and feedback website at bit.ly/AduanMARA.
“I appeal to all students, having difficulties with Mara educational sponsorship programmes, to provide feedback on the issues,” he said, adding it would help him gauge the extent of the problem.
“Annuar should not avoid the issues emerging. He should provide answers. There would be many other issues emerging after this.”
“There are questions on whether Mara was in a position to help students with their education. This must be the result of the Federal Government recently cutting back on funding for education including on scholarships provided by the Public Services Department (PSD).”