KUALA LUMPUR: Many part-time media practitioners as well as those working on their own are found to be not having social security protection. Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) Self-Employment Injury Scheme Division head Mohamad Haron Othman said the situation among other things is due to a lack of awareness about the importance of getting social security protection besides the factor of affordability.
“Then there are those who can afford, but thought this protection is not important, so we are trying to help them so that when a disaster occurs, they or their families have sustenance to continue living,” he said. He said this in a segment of ‘Apa Khabar Malaysia’ programme titled ‘SOCSO for Part-Time Media and Creative Practitioners’ produced by Bernama TV yesterday.
He said for part-time media practitioners, the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Human Resources together with the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO) have provided comprehensive welfare protection through the Self-Employed Social Security Scheme (SKSPS). He said they only need to contribute RM23 a year or 10 per cent of the original contribution rate, while the other 90 per cent is paid by the government to enable them to be protected in the event of a disaster.
The SKSPS scheme, he said, offered eight benefits to contributors which consisted of medical, temporary disability, permanent disability, dependents, management of deceased, education loan, regular service allowance and physical or vocational rehabilitation facilities. In the meantime, he also thanked the Minister of Communications Fahmi Fadzil for caring about the problems faced by media practitioners and for actively looking for solutions.
In addition, SOCSO is also actively holding engagement sessions with stakeholders in the creative industry to publicise the importance of this contribution. “We will also make drafting several MOUs with agencies under the Ministry of Communications, including the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS),” he said. – BERNAMA
