Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming said calls by Najib, despite the disclosure by EPF that 3.6 million contributors, including two million Bumiputeras, have less than RM1,000 in their accounts, indicate that he may not be thinking of the long-term interests of the people, including the Bumiputera community.

Instead, Najib is resorting to increasingly populist and “financially irresponsible” ways of appealing to the public, he said in a statement today.

Ong urged the “reasonable voices within the Umno leadership to come out and share concerns about these repeated calls for the rakyat to dip into their own EPF savings”.

He said doing so would have serious long-term personal implications, especially for contributors in the B40 group who would have little left in their EPF accounts when they retire.

On Dec 14, Zahid had urged the government to allow further withdrawals from EPF to help those still reeling from the economic effects of Covid-19 as the loan moratorium was set to end that month, followed by the final disbursements of EPF withdrawals.

According to him, not all Malaysians were ready to pay back their commitments, as many did not have stable jobs or were making profits from their businesses.

Yesterday, FMT reported that Najib attempted to justify his push for another i-Citra withdrawal by listing three reasons:

• Withdrawals may be managed by increasing the contribution from employers and by restructuring dividend rates;
• Those in support of i-Citra believed that most Malaysians were responsible and would work hard to recover their savings through EPF or some other investments; and
• Those in support of i-Citra were aware that the pandemic was an extraordinary situation and many had yet to recover due to prolonged lockdowns over the past two years.