There are about 6.6 million private sector workers who only have the EPF to rely on after retirement, they do not have any pension whilst the others do not have any savings. Social services in Malaysia too needs improvement.

Example: “A worker who retires at the age of 60 years after having sacrificed the best of his/her life time to an establishment for over 25 to 30 years without having adequate savings or the necessary support to manage through his/her old age.

Bank Negara Malaysia stated that Malaysian household debts stood at 87.9% of the GDP, which denotes the indebtedness of workers. Obviously, settling debts will be the larger commitment from the EPF funds after retirement.

The remaining monies is used for children’s higher education and marriage. Thereafter, there is nothing much left. Medical, food, supplements and recreation beyond retirement age becomes extremely important but unaffordable with the ever-rising cost of living.

Life becomes miserable for retired workers without a reasonable and realistic pension scheme in place. Undoubtedly, a monthly pension is extremely vital and we need to positively look at securing a monthly pension in addition to the EPF.

Barisan Mantap MTUC will endeavour in securing a pension scheme for the private sector workers.

Long Live MTUC – Long Live Workers