PETALING JAYA: It’s been three years since Gunasegaran Nesarajoo Xavier, 52, dipped into his retirement funds to tide him over the Covid-19 pandemic and he finds himself back at square one.
For most people, life is back to normal with the worst of the pandemic over, but Gunasegaran’s nightmare continues as debts pile up.
He used to earn RM8,000 a month when he was a security, safety and health manager. But he was retrenched when Covid-19 first hit, and hasn’t been able to get another job since, despite making more than 100 job applications.
“For the past two years, I have been struggling financially. I face financial issues every day” said Gunasegaran, who has two children. He said his family currently survives on his wife’s salary as a kindergarten teacher and his earnings from the odd driving jobs.
With the prospect of full-time employment looking dim, Gunasegaran is still hopeful the government will allow him and others facing a similar predicament to withdraw their savings from the EPF.
“If I get to withdraw from my Account 1, I will first use it to settle my overdue debts,” he told FMT. “I will use the money to open a business. Not a big one but enough to make an income to live on.”
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has said the government will not allow any more withdrawals as savings have dwindled.
Anwar has proposed the use of EPF Account 2 to support bank loans as an alternative, a scheme known as FSA2.
Former lecturer Mohd Hatta Ibrahim, 53, said he and many others might not qualify for a loan under FSA2 even though they were in dire need of funds.
“First, they need to have a monthly income. Second, they need to have more than RM3,000 in their Account 2. Lastly, those whose applications are approved need to make monthly payments,” Hatta told FMT.
Hatta, a father of three children, has not had a regular income since he was retrenched from a private college at the height of the pandemic in 2020.
“I need the money to move on. If I get the money (from Account 1), I will use the money to pay off all my commitments.”
Former bodyguard Razmil Ramli, 53, is also having trouble finding a job that pays him a salary close to the RM8,000 he used to earn before he lost his job.
Now he earns between RM1,000 and RM2,000 a month as a freelance instructor but it’s not enough to pay the bills.
“I need my retirement money to rebuild my life. For instance, I can drive a Grab car but I have no capital. I will use the money to rebuild my life, not to spend it on luxuries,” he said. - FMT
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