Wife receives survivor’s pension from Socso 20 years after her husband’s death
MIRI: Twenty years after her husband’s death, a woman here finally received a survivor’s pension ( Pencen Penakat) from Social Security Organisation (Socso).
Miri Socso manager Hendera Saiful said it was the longest outstanding case in Sarawak.
Naemah Abdullah @ Eling, 54, said she was not aware of the benefits of Socso contribution by her husband, Kitlee Salihi, who died in a drowning incident on June 17, 1997 when he was 35-yearsold, leaving behind four children.
According to Naemah, she made the application on June 12 this year after being informed by her sister-in-law Mislia Salihi, who attended a Socso talk conducted by Socso enforcement unit head Neili Stephen Manggang and her team on May 4 this year.
“After being reviewed, Socso told me that I am eligible to receive the funeral benefit and the regular survivor’s pension for life and I was really surprised about this as indeed I did not know about it,” she said after receiving a pension pay-out from Hendera at the Socso office here yesterday.
Naemah, who was a fulltime housewife when her husband passed away, had to sell ‘ kuihmuih’ to survive. Besides that, her late husband’s siblings also helped her out.
Hendera said after the question andanswersessionat thetalk ended, Neili made further investigation and after reviewing, Socso found that Naemah’s husband had registered with Socso in 1989 and his last contribution was in Jan 1993, causing his beneficiaries to be entitled to regular retirement claims and pensions.
“This is the second longest reported case handled by Socso Miri this year, whereby the first case was 11-years-old and for the record, we have completed 84 ‘ Pencen Penakat’ cases from January to June this year with payment amounting to RM387,669.28,” he explained.
Hendera added that many contributors were still unaware of the contribution benefits especially of the ‘Pencen Penakat’ as this pension is paid to eligible dependents when the insured person dies due to any incident unrelated to employment.
“Most widows or contributors’ heirs are less likely to receive information regarding ‘ Pencen Penakat’ and for that reason their cases were only detected after some time.
“I strongly urge the public or the heirs to come to the Socso office with valid proof to submit the application for ‘Pencen Penakat’,” he said, adding every application will be processed on the same day and can be done within 24 hours, provided the documents submitted are complete.
“It is vital for the employers to take the initiative to cooperate with us too so that Socso can spread the information regarding the benefits provided for the contributors,” he added.