By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, June 25: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii is urging the government to look into more comprehensive coverage for workers under the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO), especially during accidents outside working hours or activities.
He said while the costs of accidents are ever-increasing, the protection provided by SOCSO only covers accidents that occur during working hours or activities that are classified as ‘work accidents’.
“In 2023, a total of 63,199 cases of ‘Pencen Ilat’ (disability claims) and ‘Penakat’ (pension paid to heirs of deceased contributors) have been reported to SOCSO. Of that, 31,345 or 50 per cent were due to accidents on the road or at home.
“Also, in 2023, 82,876 accidents were reported to SOCSO. Only 68,220 were accepted as work disasters. This means that 18 per cent of 14,656 of the applications are not classified as work disasters, so the workers cannot get the necessary protection and assistance,” he said in a statement today.
Yii said the global trend in financing the social protection system is now changing from relying on tax-based financing to social insurance schemes.
For example, he said, Germany and Japan have long-standing social insurance systems in which contributions from employers and employees fund health care, pensions, and unemployment benefits.
He added that recently, countries such as China and Indonesia have begun to adopt similar models to ensure a more stable and predictable source of funding for their social programmes.
“With this, I think Malaysia needs to go in that direction based on existing best practices and the concept of ‘shared responsibility’ to not only provide comprehensive coverage for workers but also form a sustainable system to deal with the costs arising from accidents.
“Today’s working world has changed. The world of work no longer has boundaries where employees can be anywhere. And with this, social protection must also be enhanced and improved for users and contributors.” — DayakDaily
