THE Barisan Nasional government should review the tax distribution among states if it supports the idea of providing Malaysians with free higher education, said PKR Youth leader Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.

Education fell under the federal list in the Constitution, he said, and Pakatan Harapan’s pledge to provide free and equitable education was dependent on it wresting control of the federal government.

Nik Nazmi was responding to a comment by Higher Education Minister Idris Jusoh, who challenged Selangor to offer free education at state-owned university Unisel.

He said Selangor’s budget was a mere RM3 billion compared with the RM260 billion federal budget, even though Malaysia’s richest state contributed more than 20% of national gross domestic product.

“This comes down to a tax policy that does not provide for a fair tax return distribution among states, unlike in Germany, for example, (which has) an efficient and equitable tax distribution (involving) half of various taxes, including corporate tax, income tax and value-added tax.

“As such, if the minister supports our efforts to provide free education, why not get the Cabinet to revisit the national tax distribution among states?” said Nik Nazmi, who is also Seri Setia assemblyman.

Idris had also said Unisel would not have survived if not for the financial aid provided to students via the National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN).

“This statement is woefully misleading. The minister would rather focus on gaining political points than address the facts,” said Nik Nazmi.

“Unisel’s fees are affordable compared with other private universities, and under Inisiatif Peduli Rakyat (IPR), Selangor also provides educational support through Hadiah IPT, Tabung Biasiswa Selangorku, Peduli Siswa, an interest-free convertible loan, and Brain Bank, a doctorate-level scholarship at the world’s top universities.

“Unisel has also introduced a ‘dermasiswa’ programme at the foundation level, where education at that level is free if students continue pursuing their degrees at Unisel.

“The minister should stick to the facts, focus on uplifting the state of education and stop playing politics.”

Unisel, formerly known as Universiti Industri Selangor, was established in 1999. In June 2012, PTPTN froze loans to new students at the institution.

Nik Nazmi said Selangor was “performing wonders” when it came to distributing state wealth from its RM3.4 billion budget through initiatives under the IPR programme.

The distribution could be seen in the provision of “free water, free bus service and free WiFi to a primary healthcare subsidy scheme (Peduli Sihat) and a preschool subsidy for lower-income families (Tunas)”. – July 18, 2017.