By Gabriel Lihan & Jasmine Badun
KUCHING: Now that members are allowed to withdraw RM10,000 from the Employees Provident Fund (EPF), will they or will they not use all the money on the coming festive seasons?
It’s not impolite (in fact it’s reasonable) to ask this question as Hari Raya Aidilfitri is almost upon us and Gawai Dayak will follow soon after that.
Long queues have been seen inside and outside the EPF Building at Simpang Tiga, prompting New Sarawak Tribune to find out what was going on.
Hunay Hank, 40, was waiting to withdraw her fund but then decided to transfer it two days earlier as she rarely goes to a bank. She prefers to do her financial transactions online.
Having made the transfer, she then observed that currently things are moving slowly at the banks. She assumed that the heavy customer traffic was due to the Hari Raya rush.
Hunay said it took her two hours just to get a new card.
On why she made a withdrawal, she said it was to pay some debts incurred during the period of the movement control order (MCO); paying for the cost of house renovation; and also to keep some cash in hand in case of an emergency.
Another EPF member, James Havit, 32, waited for over a week before he could get his money.
He also intended to pay off some debts, meet family commitments, and ensure that his family has sufficient stock of food.
Another member, a 56-year-old teacher, revealed that she was going to withdraw around RM10,000 for Raya and Gawai Dayak celebrations.
“It’s not for enjoying myself, but to pay my children’s university expenses, and also to renovate my house in preparation for my retirement,” she said.
On the process of getting the money out, she said it took quite a while because there were lots of people doing the same thing.
“But I didn’t mind because at the end of the day I got my money,” she said.
Another woman, Masherni Berahim, 41, said she withdrew her money to buy household necessities.
“We also need to have a bit of ‘duit raya’. Not the whole lot, but just enough to celebrate,” she said.
On her preferred access to the fund, she said she likes to go to an ATM at night after work to avoid heavy road traffic.
