(May 18): The majority of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) members want full withdrawal of funds to remain at age 55, the results of the fund's consultation on withdrawal options has shown.

EPF chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Ridza Ridzuan said in a statement today that 94.4% of members wanted the status quo to remain, and also for new contributions made between the ages of 55 and 60 to be withdrawn at age 60.

The survey also saw 74.6% of members agreeing to the proposal that EPF contributions be based on wages stipulated by minimum wage legislation.

"Members agreed that the proposal was timely as it would address the low savings of employees whose contributions are lower than they should be under the Minimum Wage legislation," Shahril said

“The consultation exercise has provided us with valuable insights in terms of obtaining feedback from different stakeholder groups. This information can assist us in our plans to engage with the government and to look at the best way of implementing the initiatives."

On extending dividend payments from age 75 to 100, 61.3% said they supported this move so that they could continue receiving dividend payouts until age 100.

Meanwhile, 71% agreed with the proposal by EPF to allow its members to switch to a Shariah-compliant retirement savings from the existing retirement savings scheme.

“There is demand for a Shariah-compliant retirement savings by our members. Based on the number of responses from the consultation, we are confident that the take-up rate for the Shariah-compliant retirement savings scheme will be encouraging for both Muslim and non-Muslim members,” Shahril said.

There were 96,448 respondents in the survey, of which 65.7% were members age 40 and below.

"This demonstrated that younger members are increasingly interested in actively taking charge of their future retirement planning," Shahril said.

Out of the total respondents, 83.1% worked in the private sector, 12.1% were from public and statutory bodies, and 4.8% were self-employed.

Gender representation in the survey reflected the composition of the current Malaysian workforce with 57.6% male and 42.4% female respondents, respectively. – The Malaysian Insider