KUCHING, Dec 15: Following RM101 billion in withdrawals from the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) which was permitted by the federal government under various programmes, the Sarawak Business Federation (SBF) and its 18 member associations (www.sbf.org.my) demand that no more withdrawals should be made.
SBF and its member associations expressed strong support for the call by various associations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and employer and labour organisations to halt withdrawals from EPF.
In a statement today, SBF secretary-general Datuk Jonathan Chai stated the federation’s stance and emphasised EPF withdrawals should not be allowed until an EPF member reaches the age of 60 or unless a member has savings in excess of RM1 million, in which case the excess could be withdrawn.
“We note that a sum of more than RM101 billion was withdrawn from EPF under the various programmes announced by the government in the past two years.
“This has severely depleted EPF members’ savings, putting Malaysians in danger of living in abject poverty during retirement,” said Chai.
He said SBF and its 18 member associations noted with great concern that 6.1 million EPF members have less than RM10,000 to retire on.
Another 3.1 million members have less than RM50,000 and a further 1.5 million have less than RM100,000 to retire on.
All in all, 10.8 million EPF members have less than RM100,000 in savings when they face retirement.
Chai said poverty as currently defined, is having at least RM1,000 a month to sustain basic living. This works out to RM240,000 of savings required assuming a life expectancy of 20 years after retirement.
“More than 80 per cent of EPF members do not meet this RM240,000 threshold at the moment and further withdrawals could worsen the situation.
“We further note that the worse affected are the Bumiputeras and they are expected to have less than RM200 a month to live on during retirement,” said Chai. — DayakDaily
