Warisan president Shafie Apdal has defended his promise to write off outstanding student loans for Sabahans if his party forms the government after the upcoming state election.
The former Sabah chief minister said his pledge was not a political gimmick and that it was financially doable, Malaysiakini reported.
“In 2019, I paid RM1 billion of debts left by BN,” he was quoted as saying, referring to the time the state government he led settled the federal government’s bond ahead of its maturity date.
“If I can pay BN‘s debts, why can’t we pay the debts of our students?”
Shafie said the pledge could be realised by channelling revenue from timber concessions into Yayasan Sabah for education.
He claimed to know which timber concessions can be set aside so the money goes to Yayasan Sabah.
“Then Yayasan Sabah can use it to pay off our children’s debts,” he said.
On Tuesday, a youth NGO dismissed Warisan’s pledge as mere rhetoric.
The Sabah Youth Council said even if Warisan kept its promise, the financial implications would be huge, and would impact other sectors in terms of funding.
Its president, Abqaree Fawwaz Abekan, said it would be more practical for Warisan to subsidise the loans by 50%, especially for the needy.
