LETTER | Allow targeted withdrawals from EPF

LETTER | Yesterday, Pertubuhan Gagasan Inovasi Rakyat Malaysia (PGIRM), Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) and Global Human Rights Federation (GHRF) handed over a memorandum of objection at Parliament to 10 MPs from both sides of the aisle in regard to a statement made by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on March 9.

On that day, Anwar said that the government would allow savings from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to be used as collateral for emergency loans taken from banks – while denying withdrawals from the retirement fund itself.

Several questions have been raised pertaining to the prime minister's decision. Are we going to burden the people with more loans and interest?

What about those who have been blacklisted? Who will be eligible for this personal loan?

We strongly object to this proposal which is going to create more burden for the people and the government should come up with a better proposal and solution without pushing financially-strapped citizens further into debt.

Such measures will only benefit the banks in the end.

Hence, we urge the government to initiate several dialogue sessions with the EPF contributors and NGOs to resolve this matter amicably without further delays.

We have clearly stated in our statements previously that this is only for the targeted group of people, who are in need and we leave it to the discretion of the government to come up with guidelines for those who want to make EPF withdrawals.

If there is still no constructive decision from the government in resolving this matter after the Parliament session this month, we will raise the matter with the palace.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.