KUCHING, Feb 16: Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) Sarawak lambasts the federal government for its “totally irresponsible” move of allowing workers to withdraw their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) without conditions.
By doing so, MTUC Sarawak secretary Andrew Lo said the federal government is “killing the patient to cure the disease”.
“Totally irresponsible. The government has managed its finances is such an inept manner that is has to now resort to workers digging into their own precious savings to help themselves.
“The government is telling the whole world that it is incapable of providing assistance to workers. It is embarrassing .
“Its like killing the patient to cure the disease. The workers will have to pay for these for generations to come,” said Lo in a statement today.
On February 11, 2021, Finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz announced that the government had lifted all conditions on withdrawals from EPF under the I-Sinar scheme, which allows EPF members with a balance of less than RM100,000 to withdraw up to RM10,000.
The withdrawals are allowed in stages over a maximum of six months.
Tengku Zafrul claimed that the decision was made on the advice of Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to improve the scheme following feedback from the public.
“Please don’t use the excuse that the public supports withdrawals. They don’t have a choice as government assistance is not forth coming,” questioned Lo. — DayakDaily
