LETTER | Employees Provident Fund (EPF) chief strategy officer Nurhisham Hussein's statement that only 3 percent of Malaysians can afford to retire on their EPF savings is a wake-up call to the government with regards to the old age financial survival of our working population.

The truth remains that massive EPF withdrawals, on account of the i-sinar, i-lestari and i-citra withdrawals estimated to be about RM70 billion ringgit or more, was the main factor to the said state of affairs.

The financial challenges, brought about by the onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic, would have warranted the government to provide sustained financial assistance to the people. 

The government, however, deemed it fit to allocate piecemeal financial hand-outs that were, grossly, inadequate to meet the financial obligations of those who had either lost their jobs or had their income reduced by pay cuts. 

Whilst defaulting on its obligations, moral or otherwise, to provide meaningful financial assistance to the people, the government enticed the people to dip into their old age EPF retirement savings to mitigate their financial commitments. 

Sadly, the folly of the government has, now, morphed into the reality that about 97 percent of EPF members would not have the privilege of retiring upon attaining the retirement age of 60.

As said by the EPF's officer, this group of old people would need to continue working an extra four to six years and, as we may add, even longer. As our nation is fast moving towards an ageing population the question that needs to be postulated is the consequences of working beyond the retirement age.

A study, by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has revealed that working long hours is a contributing factor to work-related deaths. 

Working long hours and by extension working between four to six years post-retirement, would inevitably lead to a deterioration of both physical and mental health of the 60-plus-year-old workers what more the possibility of death as a consequence therefrom.

Given the reality that the overwhelming number of workers are left with insufficient savings post-retirement, we would propose that the government seriously consider an Old Age Social Protection Scheme. 

On this score, we would propose that a nominal percentage from taxes collected be set aside into a pension fund or alternatively be channelled to the EPF where an equitable pension payment scheme can be devised to provide for retiring workers. 

Until such proactive measures are put in place at the soonest, we may stand witness to an ageing population that would neither have sufficient EPF savings post-retirement nor an old-age social security network to provide them financial sustenance.

The writer is the secretary of the Malaysian Trade Union Congress, Penang division. 

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.