‘State govt to help pay RM60 yearly contribution for i-Suri members’
KUCHING: The Sarawak government has agreed in principle to assist those registered for the i-Suri incentive under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to pay the annual RM60 contribution, said Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Dato Sri Fatimah Abdullah.
She said the state government was complementing the federal government’s special incentive of RM480 that is credited into the applicant’s EPF account, by helping to meet the annual RM60 contribution.
“There are 25,813 individuals who had registered for i-Suri in the state but a total of 18,275 applicants did not make the contribution of RM5 per month or RM60 a year as required.
“We understand there are people, especially those categorised as poor or hardcore poor, who have difficulty in forking out RM60 every year. So in principle, the state government has agreed to pay the RM60 contribution for individuals registered for the iSuri incentive,” she told a press conference at her office here yesterday.
She said the i-Suri incentive is meant to extend EPF’s benefits to those in the informal sectors, such as those registered with eKasih, with Sarawak currently ranking number five in terms of applications for the incentive.
Fatimah also hoped those who have yet to register for the incentive would do so quickly to enjoy the benefits provided by the state and federal governments.
To be eligible for the i-Suri incentive, applicants need to be a citizen, below 60 years of age, be a wife of head of household or female head of household, and registered in the National Database on Poverty (eKasih).
Successful applicants must contribute a minimum of RM5 per month or RM60 per year into their EPF account.
The benefits of i-Suri incentives include earning annual EPF dividend, death benefit of RM2,500, and receiving a special incentive of RM480 per annum from the federal government, which will be credited into recipients’ EPF account.
According to Fatimah, those who had registered for i-Suri before July would receive the RM480 incentive this month, while those who register from this month onwards would get the incentive next February. She added that out of the 66,120 wives of heads of household or female heads of household in Sarawak registered with eKasih as of November last year, only 42.85 per cent of them have registered for the i-Suri incentive.
“Those listed in the eKasih system should register for the i-Suri incentive. I call on community leaders and government officers to assist those eligible to register for the benefits,” she said.