JOHOR BARU, Nov 3 — Johor Umno Youth today urged the federal government to re-examine Employees Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawal facilities, as this would help Malaysians in need.

Its chief Mohd Hairi Mad Shah said the suggestion is not for "political mileage”, but a matter of the people’s survival, especially those who are based in the city and awaiting Budget 2022’s initiatives to kick in.

"If coming up with a value of RM10,000 is not possible, the facility could be reduced to RM5,000 to benefit those in need. A reduced sum is better than having nothing at all.

"Johor Umno Youth hopes that the government can listen to the voices of those in need, and give them a ray of hope to continue living,” said Mohd Hairi in a statement issued here today.

His comments came after Umno Youth was reported on Saturday as having expressed its disappointment that a "one-off” EPF withdrawal of RM10,000 was not included in Budget 2022.

Mohd Hairi said Johor Umno Youth also wants all MPs to be given a chance in Parliament to state their requests for action by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz.

"I would like to share my experience of meeting some individuals where I listened to their grievances on desperately needing assistance, such as the i-Sinar facility, to cover loan arrears that are increasing day by day.

"There are those who need it to pay rent arrears to avoid being evicted. There are also those who need to pay arrears for their vehicle instalments and others have even begged for help as the assistance given under Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia is not enough due to retrenchment.

"This is the reality of society and I believe many similar complaints and grievances are being heard not only in Johor Baru and other districts in Johor, but also across the country as most are in the same situation,” he said.

Mohd Hairi, who is also the Johor Baru Umno division Youth chief, said the government announced Budget 2022 amounting to RM332.1 billion, which is the highest allocation in the history of the national budget ever announced.

In short, he said Budget 2022 outlines three main goals, namely the People’s Well-Being, Economic Sustainability and Economic Resilience in line with the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP), in addition to several economic recovery packages announced previously.

"However, there are still voices from the community who were waiting for the announcement of the i-Sinar facility under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) but were disappointed to later learn that it was not announced,” said Mohd Hairi.

Previously, the government allowed EPF contributors to withdraw from their savings to make up the shortfall in income caused by the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the numerous programmes, namely i-Sinar, i-Lestari and i-Citra, have led to 6.1 million contributors depleting their savings to below RM10,000 each.