Report: Over 17,000 bankruptcy cases since 2020, mostly involving men, Malays 

KUALA LUMPUR, August 4 — A total of 17,599 people have reportedly declared bankruptcy between 2020 and May this year, with men accounting for 73.7 per cent (12,970) and Malays comprising 58.3 per cent (10,267) of all cases.

Women accounted for 4,607 cases, with 22 cases under unknown genders. As for breakdowns by race, 4,447 cases involved Chinese, 1,321 Indians, 1,516 Malaysians of other races and 48 foreigners.

The highest number of bankruptcies declared by age group happened to those between 35-44 with 6,681 cases, followed by 45-54 (4,819), 25-34 (3,171), those aged 55 and above (2,823), and finally youths aged 25 and below (46). A remainder of 59 cases involved unknown ages.

According to a parliamentary written reply by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar yesterday, the highest number of bankruptcies occured in Selangor (4,164), followed by Kuala Lumpur (2,203), Johor (1,987) and Sabah (1,642).

"The government has studied bankruptcy laws through the Bankruptcy (Amendment) Act 2017 [Act 1534] that took effect on October 6, 2017. Through Act 1534, the government has provided the right of protection and guarantee against bankruptcy based on references and comparisons to other countries such as the United Kingdom, Singapore, New Zealand and Hong Kong,” he said.

He also noted that the Insolvency (Amendment) Act 2020, or Act 360, had been amended in Section 5(1)(a) in order to increase the minimum value of bankruptcy from RM50,000 to RM100,000.

Wan Junaidi’s response came from a question posed by Pakatan Harapan’s Datuk Seri Mujahid Yusof Rawa, the MP of Parit Buntar, who asked about the number of Malaysians declared bankrupt according to age, gender and race.

In June, it was reported that close to 60 per cent of the 46,132 Malaysians who declared bankruptcy from 2018 to May this year were aged between 25 and 44.

Nearly 42 per cent of those who declared bankruptcy in the same time period cited personal loans as a factor leading to bankruptcy, followed by nearly 15 per cent who listed vehicle purchase as a factor, and more than 13 because of business loans.