The government to answer on the controversial EPF withdrawal issue this Monday

KUALA LUMPUR - The government will answer the controversial issue on t he the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawal in the Dewan Negara this Monday.

Deputy Finance Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan said he will answer on the issue in a winding-up session after the motion to bring the issue to Dewan Negara was approved for debate among senators.

"This Monday, there will be a motion about EPF that will be raised at about 4 or 4.30pm. I will listen to the senator's opinions on two matters for more than an hour.

"The first matter is about targeted withdrawal and secondly it is about the loan guarantee, those who use their EPF savings as collateral for bank loans," he said today.

The opening session of the Dewan Rakyar last Monday was chaotic after almost all Perikatan Nasional (PN) Members of Parliament had walked out from the Dewan Rakyat after the motion to debate the targeted EPF withdrawals had been rejected by the Speaker.

The EPF, in a statement, previously announced that contributors aged 40 years and above with a minimum of RM3,000 balance in their Account 2 are eligible to take out bank loans through the Account 2 Support Facility (FSA2) starting Thursday.

Meanwhile Ahmad said he had been briefed by the EPF about the number of contributors who had taken out bank loans using their savings as collateral in which all the data and information will be released this Monday.

In the meantime, he reminded young civil servants to buy houses during their twenties to avoid the burden of high debt and having to use retirement money for the purpose of paying loan installments.

He said household debt is indeed high in Malaysia, where most of are in debt to buy houses and vehicles in addition to education debt.

"We hope young civil servants can start buying houses early, I was told that most of them (civil servants) buy houses when they are 30 to 40 years old.

"Perhaps they are still planning their lives, but we hope that this household debt won't put financial pressure on them when they are retired," he said.