EPF lump-sum withdrawal at 55 must be allowed, says Cabinet
By FOONG PEK YEE ( The Star 18th December 2003 )
PETALING JAYA: The Cabinet has rejected the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) proposal to disallow contributors to withdraw their savings in a lump sum upon reaching 55.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr Fong Chan Onn said the ministers felt that the people had the right to withdraw their savings.
“The matter was discussed at length and the consensus at the Cabinet meeting yesterday was that the Government should not stop the members from withdrawing all their savings upon reaching 55,” he told The Star.
He was asked whether the Cabinet had discussed the issue, which was met with dismay from various quarters.
It is learnt that it was Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi who raised the matter at the meeting in Putrajaya.
Abdullah, reacting to The Star front-page exclusive report, had said on Sunday that EPF contributors should be free to decide whether or not to withdraw their entire savings on retirement.
Abdullah, who is also Finance Minister, said: “I don’t think there should be imposition of conditions on how to get their money.”
Under the proposal, which the EPF said was in the “thinking stage,” contributors would be allowed to withdraw between 20% and 30% of their total savings upon reaching 55, and the rest would be paid out in monthly payments over 15 to 20 years.
A statement by EPF chief executive officer Datuk Azlan Zainol on Sunday said that any change to the EPF Act and its policies would have to be tabled by a board committee set up for the purpose.
He said any proposal by the committee would be submitted to the EPF Board before going through other stages of approval.
EPF Board chairman Tan Sri Abdul Halim Ali, in a statement on Monday, said the review was not due to funding constraints because the fund enjoyed a healthy asset growth of RM20bil a year.
Comments ;
Pensioners need their money! @ 55!
Most people work the system up to an elderly age and deserve to have some fun! This is to say the least..
There are so many stages of approval that they are going through.
By the time they get their money, it would have already been passed down generations.
Perhaps a new payment system with a lump sump payment as an option should be introduced!
After all it's OUR MONEY!
I welcome more constructive comments on how the EPF payments should be re-allocated to our dearly loved pensioners.
The young help the elderly towards unity?
Sincerely,
ZARIQUE.
Power? Blip..
Posted by: Zarique | Monday, December 29, 2003 at 05:13 AM
why do these bunch of nitwits think they can always tell us what to do?
Posted by: blip | Monday, December 22, 2003 at 11:37 AM
Thanx for dropping by PickYin.
As I have reiterated before, Malaysians alike - your mother will need all the help they can get. EPF was designed to help pensioners. It should stay that way and not be a harming element to their life savings.
Just imagine slogging your life for a company, the company builds itself. Employees suffer. With more responses and voices from the young brilliant minds we have today, we will succeed.
Smiles.
ZARIQUE.
Posted by: Zarique | Monday, December 22, 2003 at 06:19 AM
i just found this link today zarique.
as my mum (who's approaching 55 n almost had a heart attack when the news came) have said again n again, the money belongs to the pensioners - therefore they have the right to get ALL their money. many other investments return much more that EPF, it is just not worth it to let your money stay there any longer than necessary.
Posted by: pickyin | Monday, December 22, 2003 at 01:06 AM