Malaysia prepares for ageing nation status by 2030. The government must ensure that the people have enough savings to meet their retirement lives.
According to the Minister of Finance Tengku Zafrul, Malaysia will become an ageing nation by 2030, which is 8 years later, and 15% or more than 5.3 million people will be retirees or senior citizens by that time. People need more savings to sustain their lives after retirement.
Tengku Zafrul pointed out that if the government will continue to allow members to withdraw funds from their provident fund accounts, it will not be known how much the members will deposit after retirement. Therefore, the government must ensure the short-term and long-term well-being of the next generation when formulating any policies.
Tengku Zafrul also revealed that 50% or about 6 million EPF members have deposits less than RM10,000, and many members have deposits less than RM1,000. If the government approves the member’s withdrawal from the provident fund account, these members with a deposit of less than RM10,000 will not have enough funds to withdraw.
Whether to approve members to withdraw funds from their provident fund accounts has now become a political issue. Leaders such as Umno Chairman Ahmad Zahid, Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr. Asyraf, and former Prime Minister Najib are all bombarding the Finance Minister for being unsympathetic, and the Finance Minister is also fighting back against these politicians who are engaging in populism.
