PRIME Minister Muhyiddin Yassin gave a great deal of thought before asking Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz to consider allowing the public to withdraw money from their retirement savings.

In an interview with Astro Awani, Muhyiddin said he spoke to Tengku Zafrul about the idea to let those who have lost jobs to withdraw up to RM500 a month from their Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Account 1.

“I had a heavy heart. It is not that I do not want them to use their money, but because I am worried about their future. What will they have when they retire?

“The majority of employees only have between RM1,000 and RM5,000 in their savings but in the end I talked with Tengku Zafrul that we need to consider this. That is why we decided to allow those in need to withdraw. In another words, a targeted group.”

However, Muhyiddin said he hoped that no one would need to withdraw from their Account 1.

“I really hope they will not touch it but in this situation, if there is no other way, what can we do?” he added.

Tengku Zafrul, when tabling the budget, said that withdrawals from Account 1 can start in January, to a maximum of RM6,000 for a year.

There has been a growing number of calls to allow withdrawals from retirement savings, including from Umno Youth and from former prime minister Najib Razak.

Even so, the calls have met with disapproval from EPF chief executive officer Alizakri Alias. – November 7, 2020.