COMMENT | Anwar must stand firm, no EPF withdrawal

COMMENT | Among the worst things the backdoor governments led by Bersatu’s Muhyiddin Yassin and Umno Baru’s Ismail Sabri Yaakob did was to allow humongous withdrawals of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) savings of RM145 billion. Yes, RM145 billion!

Under various schemes forced upon the EPF, a huge amount of retirement savings was withdrawn, reducing the savings pool of 8.1 million members, more than half the workforce. The withdrawals amounted to about 15 percent of EPF’s funds.

Most of it was during the tenure of the first backdoor prime minister we ever had, yes, Muhyiddin, who wanted to put money in the hands of people so they could feel good about the new government.

He was the same one who imposed an emergency to stay in power.

When he got kicked out by his Umno Baru partners, who paradoxically are Pakatan Harapan’s main partners now in the new federal government, Muhyiddin’s new backdoor successor, Ismail Sabri announced a “special withdrawal” to further burden the future of most Malaysians...