Talking Reformasi: Saving the next generation

Mandeep Singh was just 12 years old and had completed his UPSR exams when the then Deputy Prime Minister was unceremoniously sacked from the cabinet on September 2nd 1998 and then subsequently arrested 18 days later. But not understanding what the 'fuss' was all about, he got to learn a new word from the Bahasa Melayu dictionary -- liwat.

Mandeep Singh is now a programme officer with Bersih 2.0, the electoral reform NGO, but he is also fighting a personal war against student education debts. He is fighting the government on the Perbadanan Tabung Pendidikan Tinggi Nasional (PTPTN).

PTPTN he says puts young graduates immediately into debt, denying them enough disposal income to own a first property or to get married. The abolishing of this bonded-slavery type education financing is to Mandeep more important than petrol subsidies.