Posts Tagged ‘Economy’

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EPF scheme for self employed

December 23rd, 2009
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So, EPF is launching a scheme for the self-employed. There are many self-employed people in Malaysia, and they come from all walks of life. Some may earn tons of money, while others barely scrape through day after day. For some of them, this would be a good scheme as it offers a channel to save money for retirement. For some others, there will be skepticism since they may know channels that give higher returns than EPF. Or, maybe worried that if they save a lot, income tax people will come looking for them 🙂 The really skeptical group would say that government lacks money, and this is one way to generate fund to mobilise development projects. Well, each to his own.

No one is forcing the contributor to save, so its entirely up to the person to consider this scheme. If you prefer other instruments like unit trust, ASN/ASB, real estate, precious metals, FD etc, so be it.

The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) will launch the 1Malaysia Retirement Saving Scheme on Jan 3 to help the self-employed cope with income inadequacy during retirement.

EPF chief executive officer Tan Sri Azlan Zainol said the scheme, announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during the tabling of the 2010 Budget in October, was to care for the welfare of the self-employed who had no formal retirement savings scheme.

It was designed to provide individuals without a fixed monthly income with financial security in their old age, he said in a statement.

The scheme was also open to self-employed individuals such as hawkers, night-market traders, real-estate agents, freelancers like disc jockeys and fitness instructors, singers and actors and online business owners.

“The Government is sensitive to the fact that adequate retirement savings remains a major concern for all Malaysians, in particular the self-employed, especially those without a fixed monthly salary.

“The 1Malaysia Retirement Saving Scheme offers this group of contributors flexibility in determining how much they can afford to save for their retirement,” he said.

Azlan said that unlike the conventional EPF saving scheme, the amount contributed into the 1Malaysia Retirement Saving Scheme was entirely at the contributor’s discretion.

“Contributors can opt to set aside a minimum of RM50 or a maximum of RM5,000 per month as retirement savings.

“Contribution is voluntary and contributors are also not required to contribute savings on a monthly basis but rather what and when they can afford,” he added.

Azlan said contributors would receive annual dividends declared by the EPF, in addition to a 5% contribution from the Government subject to a maximum of RM60 per year over the next five years from 2010-2014.

Those interested can apply for the scheme at any EPF branch nationwide, or download the KWSP 16G (1M) Form from the EPF website at www.kwsp.gov.my from Jan 3.

The forms are to be returned at any EPF branch or by mail.

However, individuals who are not EPF members have to register with the EPF first.

Existing EPF members who turn self-employed are also eligible and may opt for this new scheme.

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TEKUN loan awarded

December 16th, 2009
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MIC boss presented loan to 109 successful applicants of TEKUN fund. The amount was not mentioned. Anyway, according to the deputy minister, there’s still RM30 million left.

Samy Vellu also said that many Indian entrepreneurs had difficulty obtaining loans from commercial banks, although they were qualified, and that this matter has been brought to the attention of PM:

MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said the matter had been brought to the attention of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Indian Affairs recently.

“We have also asked the Finance Ministry to review the conditions for granting loans to make it more flexible,” he told reporters after handing over loan cheques from the National Tekun Foundation to 109 Indian entrepreneurs here yesterday.

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Numbers don’t paint a rosy picture

December 15th, 2009
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Some excerpts from speeches by Finance Minister II:

– While Singapore and Korea’s nominal per capita GDP grew within the last three decades by 9 and 12 times, respectively, ours only by a factor of 4.

– Amongst our peers, China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand, our real GDP growth in the last three years was the second lowest at 5.5%.

– Our manufacturing sector is not investing up the value chain while our services sector remains low in growth and under-developed.

– Our economy has been stagnating in the last decade. We have lost our competitive edge to remain as the leader of the pack in many sectors of the economy. Our private investment has been steadily in decline. Our private investment is now half of what it was since the Asian crisis while both manufacturing and service sectors have become less capital intensive. For the period 2000 to 2007, our investment per value-added in percentage nominal terms in manufacturing dropped from 30.6% to 21.7% while the services sector, the decline is from 26.8% to 22.1%.

– We know that the bumiputras do not hold the bulk of Malaysia’s wealth. A simple analysis of our capital account will show that there has been a continuous outflow of capital from our shores. In this mobile world, capital will always flow to jurisdictions that are perceived to be more secure, not necessarily the ones that give a higher return.

– The mismatch between our industry’s needs and the output from the local universities has resulted in Malaysia having the highest unemployment rate of graduates, at close to 4.0%, compared to, for example, Ireland, Korea and Singapore.

– We are most unhappy that the private sector’s share in its contribution to our Nation’s GDP has steadily declined since the Asian Financial Crisis. We are also alarmed by the decline in the private sector’s level of investment, both in the manufacturing and services industries.

Not sure if this guy will around next year if there’s a cabinet reshuffle, going by the way the facts are presented.

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Mini market owner goes to court for 3rd time

December 10th, 2009
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I’m sure everyone’s familiar with the case of  mini market owner Subramaniam who have been summoned few times by the local council. The court ruled recently that the summons are invalid as the local council don’t have authority to haul someone to court via summons (that’s what I understood). Efforts are underway to change the law, so while that is happening, let’s look at the news below.

Questions are abound. Why wasn’t he given license after 2005? Was he offered an alternative place which he declined? Did he commit some crime like not paying fees or duit kopi(!)? Or was the place marked for development? Or did he vote for the other side? Or someone jealous of his business? Was he selling unauthorised items? Or any complaints on cleanliness by residents? Did he cheat customers? Any sane person would like to know why the license was not renewed, but newspaper did not mention it. When the information is not forthcoming, can you blame people like me for guessing all kinds of reasons?

Would it been different if the owner was not an Indian or Chinese? I like to say no, but well, we being Second (or is it Fourth?) Class citizen and all…

I remember the Pahang Indian Chamber of Commerce making some noise, that’s about it.

Mini-market owner Subra maniam Gopal was charged for the third time this year in the magistrate’s court here with the same four offences of operating his business in 2006 without a licence from the Temerloh Municipal Council.

Once again, Subramaniam, 50, pleaded not guilty to four charges of operating the GSM Mini Market on 10A Jalan Besar Lanchang in Lanchang, Pahang, without a licence on March 10, March 17, April 18 and June 6 in 2006.

Magistrate Ida Rahayu Sharif fixed Jan 26 for mention of the case after his counsel Datuk M. Ramachelvam told the court that they would be raising preliminary objections and Deputy Public Prosecutor Ellyna Othman did not object.

On Dec 1, High Court Judicial Commissioner Akhtar Tahir had released the grounds of his judgment for his Sept 11 landmark decision that Section 120 of the Local Government Act, which had been used by the council to prosecute Subramaniam the first time round, was unconstitutional because it empowered the council to institute prosecutions when Article 145(3) of the Federal Constitution gave that right solely to the Attorney-General.

It is believed the same objection will be taken against yesterday’s charges.

On Nov 22, the Sunday Star frontpaged the Sept 11 judgment and ramifications for local councils nationwide.

In his oral judgment that day, JC Akhtar had also ordered Subramaniam be given a discharge not amounting to an acquittal.

On the following Tuesday, the council served Subramaniam with fresh summonses from the council for the same offences and he was charged on Nov 25 for a second time.

After his not guilty plea was taken, Ida Rahayu allowed DPP Nurshafini Mustafa’s application for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal as the council had applied wrongly for the summonses.

Outside the court yesterday, Subramaniam said he had been running his shop since 1979 and had always had a licence until 2005 when the council rejected his application for a renewal.

“I do not have any alternative to earn a living. I have children studying overseas to support.

“What is happening to me now is not fair as I have been running this business for so many years and I have to continue doing this. Let me live in peace,” he said.

Ramachelvan said his client was in a bind whether to stop or continue with the business because it was his livelihood.

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TEKUN still have RM30 million for Indians

December 7th, 2009
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Below is some updates on TEKUN scheme for Indian community. The reply is due to MP Kulasegaran’s question in the Dewan Rakyat. You may wonder why details about the special scheme is not available on TEKUN website, instead one need to approach MIC through YSS. TEKUN was set up for bumiputra entrepreneurs.

The Deputy Minister says got RM36 million (I thought it was about RM20 million only for this year) and RM6.13 million has been dispersed. But I remember someone saying that there’s no more funds left for the year. That means got nearly RM30 million left in the fund. That can really boost lots of Indian businesses. Want to know how to apply? Ask YSS here (and please share your responses in this blog).

And if you read the last line below, the RM6.13 million loaned to Indians is part of RM1.385 billion which is a mere 0.44%. 600 Indian businessmen out of 150,988 is about 0.4%. RM6.13 million/600 people is RM10217/Indian. While the average is RM1.385 billion/150988 persons is RM9173. If consider only bumiputras, then its (RM1.385 billion – RM6.13 million)/(150,988-600) = RM9168/bumiputra. So, even though the allocation and disbursement is small, the amount an Indian businessman gets is about RM1000 more than the bumiputra businessman. Yeah, average is not a good indicator, just one of many. We should be having 10500 businessmen (if we take 7% rate) instead of 600.  So, questions need to be asked – where are these businessmen? Are they qualified? Did they apply? Are they aware?

I won’t say denied because the amount is already granted, but whether the applications were received and processed, or only those short-listed by YSS would be accepted. It would be good if some sort of online application is created and handled directly by TEKUN or PM’s Dept rather than given to a political party’s extension. Even if YSS is impartial, the impression would be different.

Do note that the forms are free and even the processing fee is deducted from the loan amount.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry has denied that the Indian community is being sidelined in the Tekun loan programme for small businesses.

Its deputy minister, Rohani Abdul Karim (BN Batang Lupar), said RM36 million has been allocated this year, primarily for Indians.

“Of this, RM6.13 million have been disbursed to small businessmen from the community nationwide,” she told Parliament this morning.

Rohani said more than 600 Indian small businessmen have benefitted from the allocation, the biggest being Perak with 216 businesses, followed by Selangor with 211 and Kedah, 185.

Earlier, M Kulasegaran (DAP- Ipoh Barat) asked the ministry why there were no publicity on the such allocations for the community.

He said applicants had found it difficult to do so and that many were asked to pay for the application forms.

To this, Rohani said the forms are free and asked Kulasegaran to give specific complaints so that the ministry could investigate.

She said only successful applications were asked to pay RM300 as processing fee for loans below RM10,000; RM50 for loans between RM10,000 and RM30,000; and RM30 for loans between RM30,000 and RM50,000.

“Applicants are not asked for the processing money as the amount is deducted from the loan.” She said Tekun Nasional has until Sept 31 this year, made 188,708 disbursements worth RM1.385 billion to 150,988 small entreprenuers.

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