Kota Kinabalu: The government and elected leaders of this country should do their very best to protect the people's savings in the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), instead of abusing the money for their political gain. Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Information Chief, Chong Pit Fah, said this in response to the Federal Government's move to use RM1.5billion from the EPF to finance the special funding scheme under the Federal Territories Foundation to enable eligible people to buy housing units in Kuala Lumpur.
He said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak told Malaysians that the national revenue for 2010-2011 has increased by RM26bil and that this enabled it to use RM2.6bil for the RM100 school aid and RM200 book voucher for STPM and tertiary students.
So how come the government still needs to fork out RM1.5bil from the EPF? he asked.
And also the RM500 assistance provided under the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) for household earning less than RM3,000 per month, he said, adding that if the government can provide money for all these why can't it use another RM1.5bil from the Federal coffer for the said special housing funding scheme in the Federal Territory.
"A responsible government and leaders will not abuse the people's money which they have entrusted to the government to safeguard for their future.
Najib should know this better, but in this case political gain is more important É people know this is part of the Barisan Nasional (BN) government's strategy to win back Selangor and Kuala Lumpur from the opposition, but at the expense of EPF contributors," he said.
The Federal Government is resorting to using the people's money in the EPF also proves that Najib is actually just talking big or main wayang about the national revenue increase, he charged, saying it is the government's responsibility to look after the people's welfare and not the EPF contributors.
He also asked the government as to how much the EPF contributors would gain from the RM1.5bil used for the Federal Territory special funding scheme.
On Najib saying the amount of RM1.5billion used by the government from the EPF for the Federal Territory special funding scheme is not detrimental to the EPF contributors as it is not big compared to the funds with EPF and that the government always safeguarded the interests of the EPF contributors, Chong said the government will not use the EPF money in the first place if it cares and truly safeguards the interests of the contributors.
"It is easy for Najib to say whatever he wants because he know his Barisan Nasional (BN) Government is counting its days in office.
He knows he can easily pass the burden of blame to the next government," he said.
