Time To Integrate And Broaden Up Social Security

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THE Association for Welfare, Community and Dialogue (ACID) commends the unity government on the initiative announced by the Ministry of Human Resources (Kesuma) that it is drafting amendments to the Employees’ Social Security Act 1969 (Act 4) to provide 24-hour social security protection for employees under the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO).
Human Resources Minister Steven Sim said if there are no issues, the amendments to the bill are expected to be tabled in Parliament this year, aiming to offer comprehensive protection even outside working hours.
ACID is in the view that social security principles should not work on a half-baked premise.
It needs a wholeness of coverage to address real situations, such as accidents after working hours, pandemic situations and the consistency and sustainability of income if there is a permanent disability.
In this regard, and the importance of wholeness in addressing social security, there are critical areas of social security that the Pakatan Harapan-led government should focus on to broaden the social safety net.
 Limitations of EPF contribution
It is time to review the EPF system, especially its value as a retirement fund in regards to B40 workers.
The COVID-19 pandemic that resulted in the decrease of EPF savings which was detrimental to the retirement benefits should be the focus of study.
EPF should be more for housing and retirement but its drawback is that its value very much depends on the quantity of contribution which does not favour the B40 community due to low wages.
In this context enhancing workers income would help the B40 community who are contributing to the EPF by the following solutions:
Universal basic income
Social security protection should not be only confined to protecting the safety and health of workers as in the current SOCSO system but should also encompass the importance of coming up with a universal basic income that would add value to social security of a worker, and this would help reduce poverty when there is job loss due to retirement, sickness or pandemic.
Universal Basic Income (UBI) proposes a financial system where the government grants every adult citizen a set amount of money regularly, regardless of their employment status.
This concept aims to alleviate poverty and could also act as a safety net as automation changes the workforce.
It is vital that the AI revolution be taken into consideration in social security discourse and strategy to protect our workforce from falling into poverty.
Education
Secondly, education allocation for workers to pursue studies of their interest which could contribute to the knowledge and skill and reskilling of workers should be part of social security strategy.
The current dependence on employers to send workers for training has been a failure since there is a pick and choose nature of the system that is unfair to other workers.
In my experience as a human resource specialist in factories and the hospitality industry, I have observed that only the managerial elites are sent for training, while normal workers like operators in manufacturing or housekeeping workers in hotels are deprived or given once in blue moon training involving HRDF funds.
This deprives workers from enhancing their knowledge and skills in their given task. This has become harder with the influx of foreign workers in these areas of work who are just taught the basics of the job.
Conclusion
It is obvious that our current social security system is fragmented along the lines of EPF, SOCSO and HRDF.
Therefore it is time the government integrates Universal Basic Income, healthcare, education and EPF into our social security system to make it holistic and an instrument to enhance the social-economic livelihood of our workers.
Unless there is an integration and broadening of the social security system, the effort to empower and enhance workers’ socio-economic situation in the country would be ineffective and lacking purpose.
Ronald Benjamin is a human resources practitioner based in Ipoh. He is currently secretary of the Association for Community and Dialogue.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT. 
- Focus Malaysia.

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