RM20M FOR I-SURI SCHEME
Women deserve adequate retirement income, says DPM
THE government has allocated RM20 million for 359,065 registered e-Kasih members for phase one of the Suri Incentive programme (i-Suri) to be launched next week, as part of Pakatan Harapan’s 10 Promises in 100 days.
From the registered members, housewives make up the majority (221,980), followed by widows (98,536), divorcees (28,116) and single women (10,433).
“Social security is important to all Malaysians, but it is crucial to enable the financial wellbeing of women, especially because women outlive men by about 4.7 years.
“Women deserve an adequate retirement income, whether the woman’s work-life is spent unpaid in the home, in the paid workforce, or a combination of the two,” said Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
Dr Wan Azizah, who is also women, family and community development minister, said this after officiating the Employees Provident Fund’s (EPF) International Social Security Conference 2018 here yesterday.
“What is crucial is to learn from past mistakes and introduce effective policies that respond to economic conditions, addressing not only vulnerabilities caused by current conditions, but also strengthening preparedness for the future.”
Also present at the two-day conference were EPF chairman Tan Sri Samsudin Osman and Social Security Organisation (Socso) chief executive officer Datuk Seri Dr Mohammed Azman Aziz Mohammed.
The i-Suri incentive programme will be implemented in three phases. For phase one, Suri members will have to save a minimum of RM5 monthly into their EPF account to show their commitment towards savings. The government will then contribute RM40 monthly.
The target group for this phase will be housewives heading the household, single mothers and widows registered in e-Kasih, a database system established at the national level to support planning, implementation and monitoring of the poverty programme for those in the bottom 40 (B40) category.
The government’s contribution will be raised to RM50 in phase two, where, in addition to the RM40 contribution to EPF, RM10 will be disbursed for protection under Socso.
However, as protection under Socso is now not extended to housewives, there is a need to make necessary legislation changes to make phase two possible, which is targeted to start early next year.
The programme will then progress to phase three where two per cent of the husband’s 11 per cent EPF contribution will go to a housewife’s account.