Dear undergrads,
I saw you occupy the Merdeka Square and could feel your high-spirited youthfulness.
I have no objection to your "occupy" campaign. From Wall Street to Jalan Sultan, indeed young people should step out of their classrooms to taste the sunshine and rain.
It doesn't have to be that tough after all. With an iPhone or iPad in your hands, you could stay in touch on Twitter or Facebook, sharing with your followers or friends the amazing nasi kandar you've savoured just across the street from Merdeka Square or perhaps a photo you snapped with some curious tourists.
So, I will never worry that you would get bored or exhausted at the Dataran.
But I just wonder what the real significance of occupying the Dataran is.
I did not hear any anti-Lynas or anti-corruption slogans, or anything against UiTM's rejection of non-bumi students nor the pathetic academic standards of our universities today.
All you have wanted is free tertiary education and writing off of PTPTN arrears.
I even saw a "PTPTN, the big loan shark" placard hoisted under the sultry sun over the Dataran.
I couldn't help but laugh: All that you have wanted is just so simple.
But have you ever thought about this: If everything is free of charge, where does the money come from? And if you can default on your loans, who would extend the loans to you?
Since you are all university students, I assume you have learned some economics before, right? Don't you remember there is something called "costing" in economics? For anything offered free of charge to you, someone else have to foot the bill.
Your lecturer could have told you, and economics guru Milton Friedman most definitely said it before, that nothing comes free under the sun.
And this costing concept applies very well on all of you.
Tuition fees at the country's government universities have been heavily subsidised and are among the cheapest in this world.
Your RM7,000 to RM8,000 annual tuition fees are just about a third of private college tuition fees here, a fifth of those of Australia's public universities, one-sixth of America's and one-eighth of Britain's.
Your parents should take delight in the fact that some other people are helping them pay the tuition fees so that they can keep their retirement funds largely intact.
What I am trying to say is that the cheap tuition fees are most definitely not Godsend. The government has to dig into taxpayers' pockets to subsidise your education, including mine.
If you are hailing from a poor family, sure enough I am more than willing to contribute my part to help. But there are so many of you who come from well-to-do families and yet enjoy the heavily slashed tuition fees.
Not to mention the PTPTN loans, where our government has been excessively generous by offering full loans at a mere 1% interest rate (If this is what you call loan shark, I would love to take a loan from you).
Given the fact that Bank Negara's overnight lending rate is 3%, the remaining 2% (could be a lot more if we factor in the inflation) has to be sourced from somewhere (the government? not really, but the generously taxed uncles and aunties).
I don't mind contributing that 2%. I see it as my national obligation. But you refuse to pay up when you graduate from school someday in the future, and the PTPTN cannot just close shop this way. So, we taxpayers are once again come under the axe.
You are actually well aware that university education is never free even in cash-rich Western countries. Many students there have to take up part-time jobs or bank loans before they can attend their classes.
You don't need a part-time job or a bank loan to finance your studies here. You don't even need to step into the lecture hall; just sit at the Dataran to protest against "I don't know what"!
Perhaps the Dataran should be occupied by the uncles and aunties who subsidise your studies. We have a whole lot more valid reasons to occupy the square.
鄭丁賢‧安哥給大學生的信
2012-04-17 09:02
親愛的大學生：
安哥我看到你們佔領獨立廣場，雄赳赳，氣昂昂，感受到你們的朝氣。
安哥不反對任何“佔領”行動，從華爾街到蘇丹街，年輕人應該走出課室，嚐一嚐日曬雨淋的滋味。
不，其實也沒那麼辛苦。現今人手一架iPhone或iPad，可以上推特，玩微博，在面子書寫今天在獨立廣場對面的拉惹路，找到好吃的扁擔飯，還可以和外國遊客合照，附圖為證。
所以，我不擔心你們在獨立廣場會悶了，或是累了。
但是，我很想請教，佔領獨立廣場的意義是甚麼？
我看不到反萊納斯，不是反貪腐，也不是反對瑪拉大學拒收非土著學生，更不是抗議大學水準低落……，噢，只是要政府提供免費大學教育，讓高等教育貸款一筆勾銷，無須繳還。
我還看到標語大大粒字寫著“PTPTN（高等教育貸款）是大耳窿”。
安哥笑了，一切那麼單純，你們的世界竟然如此可愛。
有沒有想過，如果一切都免費，錢從哪裡來？如果借錢不用還，誰會借錢給你們？
既然是大學生，都唸過經濟學吧？記得嗎，經濟學入門有“成本”這一章，告訴大家說，所有東西都有成本，免費的背後，總要有人付費。
你們的講師可能有提過，經濟學大師弗利曼說過，天下沒有白吃的午餐。
成本概念，當然也適合用在你們身上。
大馬國立大學的學費，已經獲得大幅度津貼，是全球最便宜之一（便宜有沒有好貨，另當別論）。
你們每年繳付7、8千令吉學費，大約是本地私立大學的三分之一，澳洲公立大學的五分之一，美國的六分之一，英國的八分之一。
你們的父母親應該暗地裡高興，因為有其他人幫他們付了學費，讓他們保住了退休金。我的意思是，低廉的學費不是從天而降，而是來自納稅人，如你的安哥我。
對於貧窮家庭的子弟，安哥我等當然願意協助分擔，但是，很多比安哥我更有錢的家庭，也享受低廉學費，安哥就有點意見了。
當然，還有高等教育貸款。
這方面，政府對國立大學的學生很大方，通常都是全額貸款，利息是1%。（1%，如果這是大耳窿，快借給安哥，多多都要）
而大馬的資金成本，如果以國家銀行的隔夜利率計算，成本是3%。
換句話說，你們只付1%的貸款利息，其餘的2%（加上實質通脹率更不止）是由……美其名是政府，實際上又是出自偉大無私的安哥和安娣身上。
2%轉嫁納稅人，安哥忍氣吞聲，就當作是盡了國民義務。但是，他日你們畢業，拒還貸款，或是一走了之，基金血本無歸，又不能破產，只好又向納稅人開刀。
你們其實知道，即使是富裕的歐美國家，大學不是免費，很多大學生都要打工，或是向銀行貸款，才能坐在課堂上。
今天，你們無須打工，無須向銀行貸款；無須進課堂，而是佔領獨立廣場，或許，應該換個位置，獨立廣場就由安哥和安娣們來佔領，我們更有佔領的理由啊！
一個很想住帳篷的安哥 上（星洲日報／馬荷加尼‧作者：鄭丁賢‧《星洲日報》副總編輯）