Najib said he initially estimated a total of 4.7 million members benefiting from the i-Sinar programme, with a total withdrawal of up to RM47 billion.

However, he noted that EPF expected only two million members to withdraw a total of RM14 billion, because of its eligibility requirements which limit withdrawals to those who have lost their jobs, been given unpaid leave or have no other source of income.

“EPF needs to understand that we cannot only target those who are unemployed. The biggest group is those with reduced monthly income as a result of pay cuts, who have got less commission and are underemployed.

“We would not want the i-Sinar scheme to become an ‘I Die’ scheme for those who don’t meet the eligibility criteria just because they have not lost their jobs,” he said in a Facebook post today.

He urged EPF to open up its i-Sinar programme to people who have faced a 20% drop in income as a result of the pandemic.

Failure to do so, he warned, might cause desperate people to deliberately quit their jobs or get themselves fired to meet the requirements of the programme.

EPF has announced that i-Sinar is an extension of the i-Lestari withdrawal facility, which has now reached an estimated total withdrawal of RM30 billion and will end in March next year.

Applications for i-Sinar, which allows withdrawals of RM500 a month over 12 months, may be made from December and the amount will be credited into the members’ bank accounts starting January.

EPF is expected to announce full details of the programme tomorrow.