MP SPEAKS | The decision to impoverish workers is political and not fiscal. It’s ironic when we have to teach the government about being responsible.

The government tapping into worker's savings to support its social protection policies is being irresponsible and complacent.

In other words, workers are asked to dig into their pension savings to help manage their current financial challenges, when they are actually in dire need of state support.

Earlier in the year, the government introduced the i-Lestari scheme which allowed contributors to withdraw RM500 per month from their Account 2 of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for a period of 12 months, benefiting about 4.7 million people.

Budget 2021 proposes a similar approach, with RM500 withdrawal for a period of 12 months from Account 1 to help reduce the financial burden of workers. But, the numbers don’t favour the proposal by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s administration.

For example, in 2018, EPF estimated that 38 percent, or 2.8 million of 7.36 million members...