‘Plan to strip student loan debtors of ID may be illegal’

Bangkok / DPA

Plans to strip Thais of their national identification card for failing to pay a long-standing education debt would be difficult to implement and could be a violation of their human rights violation, graduates have said.
The Student Loan Fund (SLF) is considering co-ordinating with the Interior Ministry to not renew the national identification cards of debtors.
A Bangkok-based company worker aged in her 30s who has an education debt said: “The nationality of a person should not be held hostage.”
However, she praised the SLF’s attempts to get money to fund children’s education and said she regularly paid her debt so she would not be affected if the measure were implemented. “But people’s rights should still be protected even when they avoid repaying debts,” she said. “There are other things the agency should do first before considering this method.”
A Chiang Mai saleswoman aged in her 30s said the potential move showed the SLF was serious about tackling the problem and she would be more consistent in making her monthly payments.
She said she often skipped making the payments because of credit card and personal loan debts. She questioned how the proposal could be implemented without problems and suspects it is only a threat.