KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 24): A total of 97,866, or 49%, out of 197,348 active loan borrowers have been blacklisted by Majlis Amanah Rakyat (Mara) for loan defaults.

The blacklisted borrowers are only listed under Mara's management and do not involve other agencies or ecosystems, Deputy Minister of Rural and Regional Development Datuk Rubiah Wang told the Dewan Rakyat on Thursday during the oral question-and-answer session.

However, she noted that negotiations for children of blacklisted parents could still be carried out, as Mara adopts a flexible "asal bayar saja" (as long as you pay) approach, which allows the amount and instalments to be reduced.

"It is not necessary for parents to pay the full amount. Settling just the arrears will suffice. This simplifies the process, and the important thing is that the financing process can be managed more effectively," she added.

Rubiah emphasised that no students are exempted from loan repayments under Mara, although the repayment amounts can be reduced based on students' cumulative grade point average (CGPA) results.

"Under the Mara loan scheme, no students are exempted from repayment, and there is no concept of scholarships," she said.

She added that a total of 96,857 students are currently receiving Mara education loans, with 90,919 students studying locally and 5,938 students studying abroad.

"The percentage of Mara loan repayments is 100%, amounting to RM300 million in 2023. As of the third quarter of this year, 70% of the target collection of RM400 million has been achieved," she said.

For more Parliament stories, click here.