Perak Women and Family Development, Character Development and Community Welfare Committee chairman Wong May Ing speaks to the press in Ipoh November 29, 2018. — Picture by Marcus Pheong

IPOH, Nov 29 — The inability of husbands to pay at least RM5 towards the i-Suri scheme for their wives’ savings was contributing to the weak response in Perak, said a state official.

Perak Women and Family Development, Character Development, and Community Welfare Committee chairman Wong May Ing told reporters on the sidelines of the state assembly that only 1,454 women are currently registered for the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) account for homemakers

"The total eligible women in Perak, who are entitled to apply for the incentives, are 13,603. However, only 10.6 per cent registered with EPF.

"We approached some of the non-applicants and asked why they did not register, and many responded that their husbands could not afford to contribute RM5 monthly for them,” she said.

The i-Suri programme was introduced by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government to encourage housewives, single mothers, divorcees and widows to start saving independently for their future.

Husbands of registered recipients are required to contribute a minimum amount of RM5 monthly to be eligible for the incentive of RM40 per month given by the government.

Wong said the government is also working with the state’s Implementation and Coordination Unit to encourage eligible recipients to take advantage of the incentive.

She also revealed that Terengganu recorded the highest registered recipients with 6,905, while Perlis is the lowest, with only 401 registered.