KUALA LUMPUR, April 3 — A Johor DAP federal lawmaker today condemned the Opposition for having a lack of ideas after a group of Perikatan Nasional (PN) MPs staged a walkout from the Dewan Rakyat in protest after their request to debate for a further Employees Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawal was rejected.
Liew Chin Tong said using the issue of further EPF withdrawals is PN’s only economic agenda in Parliament, adding that it was an attempt to rile up the people’s emotions when Malaysia is on the road of economic recovery.
“PN should assist the people by helping the government to face the fundamental challenge of a vicious cycle of low wage, low productivity, low skill and low value-added activities.
“Median wage in 2021 was only RM 2,250 per month, which means 50 per cent of Malaysian employees are earning less than that amount.
“That is what we should address as a nation, in Parliament. We need an Opposition that has better ideas and a serious commitment to the people,” said Liew in a posting on his Facebook today in response to the PN MPs who walked out of the Dewan Rakyat in protest over their rejected motion.
Liew, who is also the International Trade and Industry deputy minister, dismissed the walkout saying it was planned and staged by PN to dramatise an already dismissed motion on the EPF withdrawals.
“Most PN MPs walked back into the chamber in less than 15 minutes after the farce and after they had spoken to the press,” he said.
Liew said that there have already been four rounds of voluntary EPF withdrawals in the last three years.
He explained that during former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s administration, there was the i-Lestari and i-Sinar in 2020 and the i-Citra in 2021.
The DAP political strategist added that there was another voluntary EPF withdrawal in 2022 when Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob helmed the country.
“During his time as prime minister, Muhyiddin was under a lot of economic and political pressure.
“He (Muhyiddin) tried to resist the demand for the third EPF withdrawal, but succumbed to the demand at the most tenuous period of his premiership in July 2021, before he was forced to resign in August 2021,” said Liew, adding that the first two withdrawals in 2020 were understandable as Malaysia was facing a testing time during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Earlier, a group of PN MPs had walked out of the Dewan Rakyat in protest after Deputy Dewan Rakyat Speaker Alice Lau turned down their request to debate a motion.
Prior to that, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Johari Abdul had already denied Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) MP for Machang Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal’s request to debate a further EPF withdrawal.
