SOME 100,000 civil servants are in danger of being declared bankrupts, as they take more loans to cope with the rising cost of living.

Congress of Union of Employees in the Public and Civil Services Malaysia (Cuepacs) president Azih Muda said middle and low-ranking civil servants resort to such measures thinking that it would offset their expenditure owing to the rising inflation rate.

“How wrong they are. Our rough estimate shows up to 100,000 civil servants may soon be declared bankrupt. As of now, 3,000 of them are already bankrupt,” Azih was quoted as saying by The Star online.

“This situation may worsen as many more are also taking up loans from loan sharks,” he said yesterday.

Azih said they could their jobs or get suspended, which would result in a rise of domestic problems like divorce and broken families.

“Just imagine if half of the 100,000 civils servants are married with children,” he said.

He also said there were not at least 20 financial institutions, including cooperatives, appointed to provide loans to civil servants by way of monthly deductions.

He mentioned that these entities do not cross check the background of each applicant.

Azih said in an example, a civil servant who is only eligible to apply for an RM50,000 loan, could go to four banks to apply and get a total of RM200,000.

“Some even submit fake salary slips to ensure that they are successful and this is when the problem starts.

“The government should come up with a system to monitor this alarming situation,” he said.

Giving the present economic circumstance, Azih said civil servants should tighten their belts rather than find a short and easy way out.

“This is akin to digging a hole to fill another and in the end, there will be too many holes.”

The Malaysian Insight previously reported middle and low-ranking civil servants to be tightening their belts in expenditure in the current economy.

Cuepacs has 1.2 million members and 106 affiliated unions. – May 1, 2017.