KUALA LUMPUR, March 24 — The government ought to fine-tune the decision to allow those aged below 55 to withdraw money from their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) account so that it can be done more easily, said Umno information chief Shahril Sufian Hamdan.

Praising the move as a good one, he said more attention should be given to some details such as allowing EPF contributors to withdraw starting April 1.

"The start of the withdrawal period is seen as too slow when it comes to the Covid-19 crisis, as the EPF authorities have already mentioned that the withdrawn money will only be transferred to subscribers’ bank accounts by May,” Shahril said in a statement.

In addition to the fact that employees in sectors including aviation, tourism, and oil and gas, would be affected during this time, he said those withdrawing funds have to wait for more than a month before receiving the money, which is too slow.

"Not every social category that desperately needs assistance contributes to EPF, particularly the B40 and rural groups. So far there has been no announcement of specific aid for these groups.

"It is also pointless if the EPF money withdrawn is spent on paying debts while one’s monthly income is frozen. Although the moratorium on bank loans is now in operation, the process has yet to be simplified while many B40 people are still being pushed to repay the banks, requiring a comprehensive and creative policy to provide an automatic moratorium to certain categories,” Shahril said.

Nonetheless, the information chief expressed his confidence in the government’s endeavours to ease the rakyat’s burden, adding he is optimistic about the government’s package to be announced next Monday (March 30) 

"In my view, the 1997/1998 economic recession was not as drastic as what we are facing now. But if the government acts decisively and thinks out of the box, God willing, we will get through it in the spirit of a united Malaysia,” he said.

The decision, announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday, is expected to benefit almost 12 million EPF users, and will allow contributors to withdraw from their EPF Account Two for a 12-month period.