LETTER | Stop playing politics over workers’ EPF savings

LETTER | The Employees Provident Fund’s (EPF) had disclosed that only three percent of our population can afford to retire on their EPF savings.

Hence, it is nonsensical for Perikatan Nasional leaders to agitate for further depletion of the people's only source of financial sustenance post-retirement.

Whether it is targeted EPF withdrawals or otherwise, the end result would be the same – inadequate savings for the vast majority of workers to sustain themselves upon retirement.

Without any doubt, allowing workers to dip into their retirement savings through the ill-conceived i-Sinar, i-Lestari and i-Citra schemes by the then-PN government played a part in such a sad state of affairs.

Enticing the people to use their own retirement savings of about RM101 billion to tide over their financial constraints and yet proclaiming that they were the saviours rendering financial assistance to the people, is the mother of deception by the then-PN leadership!

Faced with reality, one would have expected PN leaders to take cognisance of the facts and act responsibly given the circumstances.

However, in spite of the overwhelming evidence staring in their faces, they have elected to fish for votes ostensibly on the people's call to be allowed to withdraw from their EPF savings again.

Politics is all about gaining popularity in the quest to win over votes.

However, it should not be a tool to flirt with the sentiments of the EPF contributors who, as a matter of fact, are left with very little savings for their post-retirement survival.

By pushing for more EPF withdrawals, the opposition would only be driving more workers to financial distress upon their retirement.

That truth ought to be given foremost consideration by the opposition and not the "end justifies the means" approach to gain cheap political popularity - at the expense of leaving about 97 percent of EPF contributors without sufficient savings once they retire.

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