SHAH ALAM - Parti Gerakan Rakyat Malaysia (Gerakan) described the withdrawal of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) as members' rights and not those of the government.
Its president, Datuk Dr Dominic Lau Hoe Chai said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's proposal to use EPF funds as collateral to take bank loans is unwise.
"If EPF members use their savings to pay off bank loans, then they also have to pay the interest rate set by the bank.
"This can be compared to taking a loan from loan sharks, why use EPF savings as collateral? That is the people's right, it is not the government's or the bank's money.
"This implementation will further burden the people because they have to pay interest rates, so this will add more to people's debt and make it difficult for them," he said in a statement today.
Dominic said instead of using EPF funds as collateral for bank loans, EPF can launch a special loan scheme for its members to solve financial problems.
"EPF could also initiate schemes to give loans to EPF contributors and charge them at a low interest rate.
"This way, the contributor's savings will not be affected because the loan has to be repaid, and EPF can take advantage of the interest earned from contributors through annual dividends," he said.