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Please Keep To The Main Objective Of The Employees' Provident Fund, EPF--Savings For The Members' Old Age. Part of the speech by Dr Tan Seng Giaw, DAP National Vice-Chairman and MP for Kepong during the debate on the 2000 Bill to amend the Employees Provident Fund Act, 1991 on 25 April 2000. | |||||||
| The 2000 Bill to amend the Employees Provident Fund, EPF, seeks to empower the Disciplinary Committee against staff members who misbehave, set up an annuity scheme through insurance companies approved by the Finance Minister, impose penalty of six-month jail or RM2000 or both for misuse of withdrawal from the Fund and allow non-citizens to contribute. EPF is the largest statutory savings organization, having total assets of over RM163 billion and over 9 million members. The main objective of the fund is to provide for members in their old age. The Bill empowers the Finance Minister to prescribe any number of accounts in respect of a member of the Fund and also to prescribe the percentage of the amount to be credited into each account. Now, there are three accounts for each member, namely 60% of the savings for old age, 30% for housing, children's higher education and computer and 10% for medical treatment. Perhaps more than 200,000 members have total savings of RM100,000 or less each. Those with RM300,000 and above would definitely have ways of getting money to buy houses, children's education and computer. It is the lower-income group to which EPF must give better protection. The anxiety among members is that EPF may be deviating from the main objective, by creating many schemes such as buying computer and withdrawing for children's education. Can they afford to opt for these schemes? The Government must not forget the main objective of the fund. The annuity scheme through insurance companies may help members such as giving each RM400 monthly for a specified period. This must be implemented cautiously to | |
prevent abuse. The thing which matter most is the annual dividen. This year it is only 6.84% which is low compared to a high of 8.5%. As the economy improves, EPF should work out a higher rate for its members. There are reports of EPF signing an agreement with National Life Insurance Association to provide members with a health insurance scheme. Naturally, this causes much debate. Insurance companies are profit-oriented and EPF is a non-profit organization. Will members of 55 years and older, who need more medical care, be able to take part in the scheme? At a time when the Health Ministry has yet to formulate a comprehensive health insurance scheme, is EPF having a different type of scheme? Forbiding a member of the Fund from using any amount withdrawn from the Fund for a purpose other than the purpose for which the withdrawal is authorized is reasonable. How can this be enforced? If 10,000 members apply to buy computers for their children in schools or universities, how is EPF to check on the withdrawal. Does it require the members to submit the receipts of the purchase within six months of withdrawal? Singapore Central Provident Fund, CPF, requires non-citizens to contribute for years. For some reasons, Malaysians who work there face some difficulties in withdrawing their savings. This Bill seeks to reduce the problems in managing and administering the credit of the member who is not a Malaysian citizen. While it is good to get contributions from non-citizens, it is necessary for us to learn from Singapore and to avoid making it difficult for them to withdraw their savings once they leave Malaysia.
Dr Tan Seng Giaw | |||||
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