The Selangor government cannot underwrite the cost of tertiary education of its citizens because education is the jurisdiction of the federal government, said PKR.

NONE"The state's annual budget is about RM1.4 billion. It is impossible for the Selangor government to underwrite a debt that is not in its jurisdiction," said its strategy director Rafizi Ramli when asked about it by reporters.

He was speaking after chairing a dialog session with students in Shah Alam last night on abolishing the National Higher Education Fund (PTPTN).

He added that there were other restrictions under the Money Laundering Act and Moneylenders Act, that would make it difficult for the government to do so.

Earlier in the dialog session, Rafizi, who is also the CEO of the state's economic advisory office, told the student that the state would also need to be given its ‘fair share' of federal grants in order to do so.

"Under the Federal Constitution there is a law called the Capitation Grant Act that determines how much does the Federal Government contributes to the state's coffers based on the state's population. It has not been amended in 20 to 30 years," he said.

Rafizi said that the grants should reflect Selangor's economic contribution, which he claims to amount to 30 percent of the national GDP.

He was responding to a question from a member of the audience on why the PKR-led state government did not write off the cost of tertiary education of its citizens, in particular in the state-run Universiti Selangor (Unisel).

PKR has been mulling about abolishing PTPTN and provide free tertiary education, and Rafizi had just delivered a presentation on the matter when confronted with the question.

However, Rafizi said the question did not address the ‘core issue', on the appropriate model of providing higher education.

He added that universities are best run by academicians, not businesses or states.