IPOH, Nov 15 — A new mechanism for National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) loan repayments will be announced next month, its chairman Wan Saiful Wan Jan said today.

The new mechanism will not be a burden to borrowers, he told reporters after the Perak Integrity Strengthening Seminar where he was a panelist.

Wan Saiful said the mechanism will be announced when Education Minister Maszlee Malik unveils the ministry’s plans for 2019.

Declining to go into its details, Wan Saiful said low-income borrowers will still receive help and the government will not make their lives difficult.

“The important thing is borrowers must pay up,” he said, adding the key principle of the mechanism was those who owed money must pay up.

Asked to describe how he felt borrowers would receive the new mechanism, Wan Saiful said it would be good news for those who diligently paid while bad news for those who simply refused to pay.

“We are going back to the idea that a responsible person needs to fulfill his responsibility. For those who continue to play the issue, we cannot do anything,” he said.

On the protest by a group representing undergraduates from several local public universities on Wednesday, Wan Saiful said he welcomed the views raised by the protesters.

“I think the Education minister had received their memorandum and we will go through it,” he said.

It was reported that the undergraduates, who were wearing their university robes, walked for 9km from Universiti Malaya to Parliament to protest Pakatan Harapan government’s about-turn on education loans.