Australians have withdrawn RM98 billion from their retirement fund
There is confusion in Malaysia over the withdrawal from the EPF which the PN government is allowing but in small monthly amounts.
This has put the PN government in direct confrontation with many people who want a lump sum withdrawal.
The Ministry of Finance in Putrajaya on its Facebook page went against the demands of the public and posted a series of question and answers related to a viral post saying the following:
In blue are the answers from the MOF
The problem with the answers is point number two. MOF says the Australians will be able to return the A$10,000 to the retirement savings in half a month.
It also says the Malaysians will take 3 years to return the RM10,000 if they are allowed to take it in lump sum, we suppose.
But the truth is, once they take this money out, it is not coming back.
There is no way for the funds to ‘return’ to the EPF or in Australia, to the superfund.
Economists say this money is considered spent once it is taken out and used by the account holders.
It is a simple fact that MOF and Minister Tengku Zafrul should have realised when they were posting this on their FB page.
MORRISON
One of the first policies introduced by PM Scott Morrison as Covid in Australia spread was a rule allowing people to withdraw A$10,000 a year from their super fund.
They clearly stated this was to see those affected to have it easy through the tight patches during the pandemic.
About 2.5 million people, equivalent to about a fifth of the country’s workforce, applied to withdraw cash in the first two months.
A total of A$42 billion is forecast to be taken out over the program’s two-year term, says Bloomberg.
So far, the Aussies have taken out RM98 billion from their Super saving fund, which is their retirement fund.
SALARY COMPARISON
On the other hand, MOF found it ‘shyok sendiri’ to compare the salaries in Australia to that of Malaysia.
In the reply to the viral posts about Australia allowing lump sum withdrawals, MOF says average Aussie salary is RM20k.
It says Malaysia is RM2k. Not only it can use such comparisons to remind Malaysians of their poor salary levels, it does not allow people to use Australia as a comparison for EPF withdrawal!
By the way, many Aussies have withdrawn almost all the money they had in their Super saving account. That is because they have A$10k or less.
This did not cause the Australian government to panic or to issue orders for a termination of withdrawals.
Perhaps Malaysia should learn more about the Australian situation before they counter the public views and public demands.