Bangi MP pans Najib, Zahid over their EPF stance

Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming has criticised former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak and Bagan Datuk MP Ahmad Zahid Hamidi over their repeated calls for more Employees Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawals.

Ong claimed that Najib's call for more EPF withdrawals following the fund's revelation that 3.6 million account holders - 55 percent of which are bumiputera members - have less than RM1,000 in their accounts is an indication that he is not thinking of the long-term interests of EPF contributors.

"Instead, he is resorting to increasingly populist and financially irresponsible ways of appealing to the public, thinking that he can fool them into believing him and his 'Malu apa, bossku' rhetoric.

"Umno president Zahid is following a similar tactic by calling for EPF withdrawals to continue, back in December 2021.

"Najib had shown that he only has the interests of himself and his cronies and not the interest of EPF and its members when he approved the purchase of Eagle High Point (EHP) by Felda Global Ventures (FGV) back in 2015/2016 at a grossly inflated value," he said in a statement today.

This was said in reference to the FGV acquisition of EHP - owned by Peter Sondakh, who is said to be a close friend of the former prime minister - during Najib's administration.

In 2019, Felda had lodged a police report on the matter alleging it was cheated into purchasing a 37 percent stake in Indonesia's Eagle High Plantations TPK (EHP) for US$505 million (RM2.1 billion) by former prime minister cum finance minister Najib.

Former Felda director-general Othman Omar

Former Felda director-general Othman Omar claimed that the amount paid to acquire a 37 percent stake in EHP was 344 percent more than its actual value of US$114 million (RM471.9 million).

Othman said Felda was made to get an RM2.5 billion loan from GovCo Holdings Bhd (GovCo), a subsidiary of the Finance Ministry under Najib's watch, to be able to afford the purchase, and as a result, the plantation giant suffered RM1.576 billion losses as of Dec 31, 2017.

In 2019, the value of the purchase was believed to be only about RM555 million.

'It's all about trying to save themselves'

In the same statement, Ong cautioned the rakyat from believing the populist measures taken on by Najib and Zahid.

"Both Najib and Zahid are more concerned about saving themselves from going to jail as a result of the corruption charges against them than to help the rakyat who are suffering.

"I would not be surprised if they resort to more and more populist measures to fool the rakyat into thinking that they are trying to save the people but in reality, it's all about trying to save themselves," he said.

Ong added that he hopes the rakyat would not be fooled by the duo's popularity stunts.

"I hope that within the Umno leadership, more reasonable voices can come out to share concerns about these repeated calls for the rakyat to dip into their own EPF savings, which would have serious long term personal implications, especially for those contributors in the B40 community who will have very little left in their EPF accounts when they retire," he said. - Mkini