Borrow at Your Own Peril

Please help them sincerely and honestly

I still remember during my study years, the scholarship that we should received earlier was somehow delayed by the university causing some unrest among desperate students resulting in them picketing in front of the bursary office. From that day, I have been hearing hearing about how some institutions 'detained' the scholarship money for a few months to gain profits for other purposes. Whether this is true or not I may never know for sure.

Today, we have another alternative which government sponsored, the PTPTN. Basically such fund is to offer help and assistance for the needy and such it is commendable. However, today the 'interest' imposed upon the loan has become a topic of discussion. Being a government agency and also being an Islamic country, such interest should be a non issue since in Islam interest is strictly prohibited though some financial institutions disguised such as service fees or other names just to legalise it under Shariah.

Being an institution set up to help and offer assistance to the poor and the needy therefore it is illogical for them to impose even the minutes percentage of interest since according to Shariah it is strictly prohibited and studying is also considered a jihad. Besides, those who are pursuing their studies fall under the category of being legible for zakat. Usually when we talk about zakat, those who receive them are considered as poor.

It is inconceivable and insulting when others said if you do not have the means to repay the loan therefore do not borrow. Such statement is very inconsiderate since learning should not become a business commodity to press the poor and the desperate into further trouble. Learning should become a fun experience and not something that we dread about. They pursue their studies hoping that someday their life becomes better but by being forced to pay the interest , they have to pay them for sometimes before their could even dream of a better life.

Some Muslims even try to 'legalise' interest based on its quantity which shows their low level of understanding of Shariah. Under Shariah, if something is haram ,thus the amount become irrelevant. If it is wrong , it is wrong whatever the circumstances and if one tries to argue emergency which allows some excuses then where exactly the emergency in the case of PTPTN? There is not even an iota to say that they are in the state of emergency since they are being funded by the government and it is the responsibility of the government to provide assistance to the needy and not to make their life harder by imposing interest on something that will benefit the nation in the future. They always say that the society need to be grateful to the government but does the way PTPTN has been squeezing the lives of the borrowers something to be thankful about? CERTAINLY NOT!

The ends should not certify the means