Let youths dip into their EPF fund

LAST month, my six-year-old granddaughter tearfully asked me why other people have so much money while her father, my son, doesn’t have any and is having a hard time making ends meet.

I was taken aback by her question, but I was certain that at her age, she was not jealous or envious of people with money but rather worried about her father’s situation.

I explained to her that when she was two years old, her mother got sick with cancer and her father had to borrow money to pay for the treatment, leaving him with a heavy debt to pay off.

My son had taken loans to take his wife for conventional and traditional treatments. Sadly, she passed away a year later, leaving him with a daughter to care for and in debt.

My son’s EPF savings is more than RM80,000 but at the moment, he cannot access the money until he is 55 years old. He and my granddaughter are living a hard life because they do not have money. He is still single and needs to pay for babysitting, rental and utilities with his meagre salary. Furthermore, he has lost his parttime job because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are so many youths in the same boat as my son. They are in heavy debt but cannot dip into their EPF savings until they reach the age of 55. Some might get there but others might not.

Is it not the duty of the government to allow these youths to dip into their EPF savings so that they could at least settle their debts and be able to live in peace?

MOHD ARASUL ABDULLAH Butterworth