{"title":"Wan Saiful Wan Jan","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"ge14-will-urban-malays-support-pakatan-harapan-book-wan-saiful-wan-jan-9789814818513","title":"GE14: Will Urban Malays Support Pakatan Harapan?","description":"In Malaysia’s last general election, urban voters tended to support the opposition coalition — 72 of the 97 urban parliamentary seats were in fact won by it. However, most of these seats have a mixed demography, with a high percentage of ethnic Chinese voters.   In the upcoming general election, Pakatan has a good chance of winning the federal government if Malay voters join their Chinese counterparts in supporting the opposition coalition. A subsequent so-called “Malay tsunami” could lead to a Pakatan victory.   This present study, which is based on a series of focus group discussions held in the Malaysian states of Kedah and Johor, finds that urban Malay voters are very unhappy with the economic condition of the country and are also worried about corruption.   But despite their grouses, they are still uncertain about supporting the opposition coalition due to the fear of losing the race-based privileges they enjoy as ethnic Malays.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49737216098577,"sku":"NGR9789814818513","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9814818518.jpg?v=1751385860"},{"product_id":"malaysia-s-student-loan-company-book-wan-saiful-wan-jan-9789814881678","title":"Malaysia's Student Loan Company","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Malaysian National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) was set up in 1997. Since then, it has accumulated a massive debt amounting to RM40 billion in principal plus RM13 billion in interest. All these are guaranteed by the Malaysian government.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e It is now the biggest provider of student loans in the country and continues to play a very important role in catalysing socio-economic mobility, especially among the ethnic Malays which is the majority community in the country.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e However, the business model employed by PTPTN is irrational and unsustainable. It borrows from the financial market at, on average, 4 to 5 per cent, and lends to students at 1 per cent. No serious effort has been made to revamp this model, and all public discussions around it have been driven by political populism.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The biggest challenge is the low repayment rate. This problem has been ignored because Malaysian politicians of all colours have wanted to maintain popularity. Collecting debt is certainly not popular.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e PTPTN, under a new leadership since mid-2018, gathered and developed ideas on how to reform their organization. These ideas have been presented to various levels of government, including to the Cabinet in early 2020.\u003cbr\u003e PTPTN must be reformed to avoid its debt from inflating further. Whether the Malaysian government has the much-needed political will to push through the reforms is a question yet to be answered.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49740732301585,"sku":"NGR9789814881678","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9814881678.jpg?v=1763485186"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-wan-saiful-wan-jan.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}