More than 300,000 declared bankrupt

THERE are still more than 300,958 bankrupts despite the amendments to the insolvency law to help reduce the number.

Deputy Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Razali Ibrahim said the government is still working hard to reduce the number of bankrupts, which has come up to 300,958, with more than 60% of them aged between 35 and 54.

“We are trying to reduce this number. It is a lot of effort and work,” he said responding to a supplementary question from M. Kulasegaran (DAP-Ipoh Barat).

Razali said the initiatives taken are to ensure that Malaysians are not easily declared bankrupt.

He said the people should not be afraid of the Insolvency Department or the Credit Counselling and Debt Management Agency.

“We want Malaysians to continue to actively contribute to the country

and not become bankrupts. High bankruptcy in a country can affect its productivity.

“So the amendments to the law can help people be more responsible in managing their finances and at the same time financial institutions can also be more responsible in approving loans,” he said.

Earlier he responded to Er Teck Hwa (DAP-Bakri), who had asked for the statistics of bankrupts that were discharged according to states from 20132017.

Razali said a total of 100,610 were declared bankrupt, of which about 14%, or 14,108, have been discharged in the same period of time.

Selangor recorded the highest discharge of bankrupts with 4,189 people followed by Johor with 2,278.

The Federal Territory and Penang recorded 1,665 and 1,002 people discharged respectively.

Sarawak discharged 961 bankrupts, Perak (895), Sabah (737), Kedah (550), Pahang (468), Negeri Sembilan (423), Kelantan (342), Malacca (291), Terengganu (253) and Perlis (54).