- 7 months ago
Malaysia is ageing fast, and ISWC 2025 brings together stakeholders to confront a key national challenge: how do we prepare Malaysians to live not just longer, but better? EPF is positioning itself as a catalyst for national readiness, driving conversations around retirement adequacy, inclusion, and resilience.
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00:00МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА
00:30МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА
01:00МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА
01:29МУЗЫКАЛЬНАЯ ЗАСТАВКА
01:59Assalamualaikum, salam hormat anda menyaksikan niaga awan ini.
02:07Saran khas kami bawakan dari Syarilla Hotel Kuala Lumpur
02:11bersempena dengan International Social Wellbeing Conference 2025
02:14yang memasuki hari kedua ini.
02:17Sebenarnya banyak, ramai sebenarnya line-up speakers yang cukup menarik.
02:21Bukan sahaja di peringkat tempatan, malah juga di peringkat antarabangsa.
02:24Juga berkongsi idea, pandangan mereka dan juga mungkin best practices
02:30apa yang boleh dilaksanakan, apa yang telah pun dilaksanakan di luar negara
02:33dan juga mungkin boleh diaplikasikan di Malaysia.
02:36Itu sebenarnya banyak juga yang dibincangkan pada hari pertama
02:40dan juga nak memasuki hari kedua ini.
02:43Okey, jadi sudah tentu kalau kita nak meneliti perkara ini,
02:46penting untuk kita melihat bagaimana penganjur KWSP memilih tajuk dan juga tema yang cukup menarik
02:54Living to a 100, are we prepared?
02:56Itu persoalannya, I'm not prepared.
02:58Jadi untuk mengulas dan juga bercerita dengan lebih lanjut.
03:01Bersama dengan saya pada ketika ini, Encik Ahmad Zulkarnain Onn,
03:04Chief Executive Officer of EPF.
03:06Thank you so much, terima kasih Encik Zul for being with us today.
03:09First of all, maybe you would like to recap on first day of ISWC this year,
03:14maybe remarks by Prime Minister and also Chairman of EPF, Chief Zulkarnain Onn.
03:20Thank you. Thank you for having me on the program this morning.
03:25We chose the team Living to 100, are we prepared?
03:29Because we wanted in particular to send and start the conversation
03:34and the dialogue with the public about the fact that Malaysia as a country
03:39is ageing very fast.
03:41It's not unique to Malaysia.
03:43Many, many countries around the world are ageing very fast.
03:46And based on the data that we have, by the time that we are 2043,
03:53the year 2043, we will be about 14% age, meaning 65%, sorry,
03:5914% of the population will be over 65 years old.
04:03And that's going to change society by quite a bit.
04:05It's going to change society in the sense that we have to take care of a larger number of the elderly.
04:14It's going to change the needs of housing, change the needs for health care,
04:18change the needs for services and products.
04:21So we have to anticipate that the needs of society is going to be very, very different from what we see today.
04:29M.J. Zul, this year's team Living to 100, are we prepared?
04:36We know that, yeah, of course, challenges many of our, for example, like about ageing, retirement,
04:42and also what it means to live well for longer.
04:47So as Malaysian society repeatedly ages, and we are being called to think differently across public policy,
04:55and especially besides that on work, savings, and health,
04:59why is this such a timely and urgent theme for Malaysia?
05:04And maybe what signals or trends are we seeing that demand attention today?
05:09Yeah, so at EPF, our, as you know, our first job is to manage the savings of all Malaysian private sector workers.
05:21In doing so, one of the things, one of the key objectives is, of course,
05:26that every single individual, after they have saved with EPF, that they have enough to retire with dignity.
05:32So one of the things that we've done, and that's a very complex issue,
05:37and many countries do struggle with this issue about how do we ensure that when people do retire,
05:43that they have enough to retire on, and they can live a dignified life with good health,
05:49and keep up the lifestyles that they're used to.
05:54One of the things that we've done recently is we introduced or we have revised our retirement income adequacy framework.
06:01And it sounds like a bit of a mouthful, but the objective really is to publish a number ever so often.
06:10And when we publish a number, that number is what we say is what you need to retire based on the cost of living,
06:16the actual cost of living today.
06:19So there's a whole complex issue surrounding then how much do you save,
06:23what kind of jobs you should get, should you top up your savings,
06:27how do you diversify your savings as well,
06:30and how do you also think about savings on top of EPF as well.
06:36In addition to that, there's also a whole program surrounding financial literacy as well.
06:42Because financial literacy and saving for retirement is not just about the money that you save,
06:48but also planning for shocks in life.
06:50What are those shocks?
06:52A typical shock is a health event,
06:55where all of a sudden you have a big hospital bill that you need to pay for.
07:00And preparing for the shocks is about essentially buying insurance or takaful as well.
07:06So that's why we have our iLindong platform within EPF,
07:09where you can use your EPF funds to pay for protection for shocks in life as well.
07:15So I think what we want to do is approach this whole issue holistically and thinking through
07:20what is it that an individual needs to prepare for their post-working life.
07:26When you mention about a holistically approach,
07:32because usually people will like, when talk about preparing longer lives,
07:37we often think about money first.
07:40But that's only one part of the equation.
07:45Longevity also brings challenges,
07:47especially to our social fabric and institution and also systems.
07:52From EPF standpoint,
07:54what does it mean to be prepared for longer lifespan,
07:58not just financially, but also socially and also institutionally?
08:03So money is obviously important.
08:06That's number one.
08:08That's what EPF was established for.
08:10Number two is to have a good life in your elderly years.
08:20It's also to remain healthy.
08:22And remain healthy meaning having sufficient funds to pay for medical bills.
08:27But more importantly,
08:29it's also more wisely rather,
08:32it's also to prepare for that by living a relatively healthy life before that.
08:37So being preventive rather than curative.
08:40Number three,
08:41some of the research I've shown is that the best years are also those years that are spent with purpose and meaning.
08:49That you actually plan your activities,
08:51you have a social group around you,
08:53that you are not lonely as well.
08:55So that's very important.
08:56And research has shown that loneliness itself causes other health issues or even shortens your lifespan.
09:05So being healthy,
09:07being active in society,
09:09not being lonely and having family and friends,
09:13and also having money,
09:14I think those are the ingredients for a good life.
09:17I would like to bring our discussion into evolution of EPS role.
09:25We know that from fund to national anchor,
09:29this is a very big team to represent how,
09:35especially transformation or geographically and demographically changes,
09:41and do so EPS,
09:42the roles and also how in order to make sure that
09:46Malaysian transition into H nation especially.
09:50and EPS is expected to of course play a broader role in order to make sure that
09:58it's not just managing retirement savings,
10:02but also supporting national development goals.
10:06Maybe from your perspective,
10:09how is EPS aligning its investment strategy and also institutional mission
10:14with the government's long-term national agenda,
10:17and also particularly in supporting the needs of a rapidly aging society?
10:23So our first mission is of course to manage the retirement savings
10:25and manage it well, manage it with integrity,
10:30manage it with the utmost professionalism as possible.
10:35Over the past two decades,
10:36we have diversified the portfolio considerably.
10:39EPS has become a big global investor
10:41and a big domestic investor as well.
10:43And the portfolio,
10:46I think the dividends over the past 10, 20 years
10:48has demonstrated the level of care and quality
10:52that we put into managing the savings.
10:55In addition to that,
10:56EPS from the start has also been an anchor
11:00in terms of investing in Malaysia
11:02and in the Malaysian capital markets.
11:04We are large investors in all asset countries in Malaysia,
11:07including Malaysian government securities,
11:10GII's,
11:11the Bursa Malaysia,
11:13and so on and so forth.
11:14As we look forward,
11:16there are certain sectors which we feel that
11:18is important for Malaysia
11:19and will have adequate returns for EPS members as well,
11:24which aligns itself as well
11:27with this whole notion of an aging nation and aging society.
11:32So in particular,
11:33one of the sectors where we put a lot of attention
11:35in terms of investing is into healthcare.
11:37Because we are an aging nation,
11:40the demand for healthcare will continue to grow over time.
11:43Healthcare is a very healthy industry in Malaysia
11:46from an investing and return standpoint.
11:50It has its issues,
11:51as you know recently,
11:52in terms of medical cost inflation,
11:54et cetera,
11:55which the government is addressing.
11:57But we do believe that
12:00investing in healthcare
12:02has huge benefits for the country
12:04and expanding capacity of healthcare
12:06so that more and more Malaysians
12:08have access to high quality healthcare is important.
12:12And expanding capacity to healthcare
12:13means, of course,
12:14having more hospitals,
12:16more clinics,
12:17but also more human capital,
12:18more doctors,
12:19more nurses, right?
12:20How do ourselves,
12:23as investors,
12:24participate in providing capital
12:27so that an expansion of capacity can happen?
12:29And that's something
12:30that we spend a lot of time thinking about.
12:33Maybe you would like to insert,
12:36or you have some thoughts,
12:37in line with Gear Up initiative.
12:40So how EPF look forward
12:43in terms of to be together with other glicks
12:46in order to make sure
12:47that all the initiatives
12:48that put in plan by the government
12:51are support together.
12:54EPF are in the same road
12:56with all other glicks
12:58in order to make sure
12:59that we have a healthy
13:02and Malaysians are living longer
13:05with a good infrastructure,
13:07especially on health services.
13:10So you mentioned the Gear Up program,
13:12and this is a program
13:13that was started
13:15by the Ministry of Finance.
13:18And what the Gear Up program
13:22has provided
13:22is actually much,
13:23much greater coordination
13:24amongst the government
13:25linked investment companies
13:26surrounding investing,
13:28and in particular investing
13:29in Malaysia.
13:30So there's an agenda
13:31surrounding domestic investments.
13:34As part of that coordination,
13:36EPF is the lead
13:39in terms of healthcare investing,
13:41and we've been spending
13:42quite a lot of time
13:43and resource
13:43studying the sector,
13:45talking to as many players
13:47as possible,
13:48and finding opportunities
13:49in how we can participate
13:51in providing capital
13:53to expand healthcare opportunities
13:55for all Malaysians.
13:57We will also look at
13:59expanding opportunities
14:01at a later date
14:03on our iLindong platform.
14:07So our iLindong platform today
14:08provides you coverage for life
14:10and critical illness.
14:12I can foresee at some point
14:14in the future,
14:14we will expand that
14:15to include for health insurance
14:17as well.
14:17So it makes it very easy
14:19for people
14:20who want to purchase
14:21health insurance.
14:22They can do so
14:23through the iLindong platform
14:24at a price point
14:26that is affordable,
14:27and you can use
14:28your EPF monies
14:29to do that.
14:30Why would we allow
14:31our members to do that?
14:34The logic is very simple.
14:35If you have protection
14:36against health,
14:39and you've bought
14:40takaful or an insurance
14:42policy for health,
14:43you keep yourself healthier
14:44at a younger age.
14:46If you're healthier
14:46at a younger age,
14:48then insyaAllah,
14:49the monies that you have safe
14:50will go far longer
14:52than if you have
14:53larger medical bills later.
14:55So that's how
14:56we think about it
14:57and the logic behind it.
14:58Jizzo, we're going to
14:59take a short break.
15:01We'll come back after this.
15:02More to discuss,
15:03especially on the
15:04sustainability,
15:05elevating social
15:06in sustainability.
15:08Niagawani,
15:08we'll take a short break.
15:09We'll come back after this.
15:25We'll be right back.
15:55We'll be right back.
16:25We'll be right back.
16:55We'll be right back.
17:25We'll be right back.
17:55We'll be right back.
18:25We'll be right back.
18:55We'll be right back.
19:25We'll be right back.
19:26I would like to bring our discussion
19:29into elevating social in sustainability.
19:34This morning's unveiling EPF
19:35enhanced sustainability commitments,
19:38witness the formal recognition of social
19:42as a core impact pillar
19:43and also alongside environmental and governance priorities.
19:48Why was it important for EPF to elevate social in its sustainability agenda?
19:57and what does this mean for how you define impacts going forward, especially in a rapidly aging society like ours nowadays?
20:10EPF has always been a big champion on sustainability for a number of years already.
20:17This morning, we're going to be right back.
20:18This morning, we're going to unveiling a revised set of commitments around ESNG.
20:26And as we thought about what this revised set of commitments should be, we thought very hard about the S pillar, the social pillar.
20:34Now, EPF itself is already an institution that's built for society, right?
20:41It's not a business. It's not a commercial business. We're not for profit. We're a statutory body and societal outcomes is what is important for us.
20:52So, we are moving away and that shift has been quite gradual but very clear over the past decade or so,
20:59from just being merely a savings institution to an institution that cares about societal outcomes.
21:05And societal outcomes in the definition of our mandate is about that people have sufficient funds to retire,
21:13but it actually goes even more than that today.
21:16So, the thinking surrounding social security and retirement protection goes further than just having enough to retire.
21:25So, the focus in the past has always been how do you accumulate, right?
21:29How do you accumulate enough? How do you accumulate enough? How do I accumulate enough?
21:33So that when we hit that retirement age, we have enough.
21:36But actually, the thinking has gone beyond that today.
21:39A lot of thinking now goes beyond towards what's called the decumulation phase.
21:46How do you accumulate well?
21:48Because in that decumulation phase, there's a lot of risks as well.
21:52So, what are those risks?
21:54That you live much longer than you expected.
21:57So, even if you have saved, you thought that you have saved enough because your lifespan has now been much longer than what you originally budgeted for,
22:04you could run out of money at that point in time, right?
22:09There are other risks with the decumulation on how we do it today as well.
22:13So, there's something called the lottery effect, right?
22:16So, in the industry, the lottery effect is in a provident fund structure like EPF,
22:22when somebody has access to all of their funds at a certain age,
22:26so in the case of EPF at 55 years old, it feels like they've won a lottery.
22:31And usually, when people win a lottery, what do they do?
22:34They spend very, very, very quickly.
22:36House renovations and everything.
22:38And a lot of people have trouble with this notion of having access to a lot of cash up front, right?
22:47So, the industry has moved towards thinking about decumulation and how to make sure that we design and give people options to be able to decumulate well.
22:56So, one of the things EPF has done, members still can withdraw fully once they hit 55,
23:04but we highly encourage members and our retirement advisors are always on hand to talk to members about shifting to schedule withdrawal.
23:13So, it becomes very easy.
23:14So, rather than taking out everything, just say, I would like to take out a thousand ringgit every month,
23:19and that's all you have to do, and then it just goes into your bank account every month.
23:24So, it changes it from this lottery effect, punya risk,
23:28to something that people treat it as a source of income over time, and you live on that income.
23:34One of the most important things that I would like to bring in our discussion is about gig informal and also self-employed workers.
23:45How is EPF addressing these segments, especially as longevity increases and the nature of work continues to shift?
23:54It's a very, very important question, right?
23:57So, the other thing about societal outcomes as we talked about just now is this measure of coverage.
24:05Coverage is the measure of how many, what percent of the population is covered by a retirement plan, in Malaysia's case, by EPF.
24:14So, Malaysia today, out of every 100 workers, 50 are covered by EPF, 10 are covered by the social service pension scheme.
24:23So, that means actually 40%, 40 out of 100 are not covered.
24:27Why are they not covered?
24:28They are working in informal sectors, they are gig workers, they are self-employed, and so on and so forth.
24:35So, over time, we are hopeful that there will be legislation to allow for more formal coverage of the informal sector.
24:46But before, prior to that happening, what we have done is we have made a huge push for voluntary contributions.
24:52So, you now can voluntarily contribute to EPF up to 100,000 ringgit a year.
24:58And last year, over 1.2 million took advantage of the ability to voluntarily contribute.
25:04I mean, if you think about it, 1.2 million out of an active membership of 8.8 million is actually quite sizable.
25:10So, it does show that when people are given the opportunity and also given and coupled with a huge number of outreach programs that we've done all throughout the country,
25:22awareness programs, financial literacy programs, that people do do this themselves.
25:28You don't have to force them to do it.
25:30So, we take a lot of comfort in that, and that's one of the agendas that we're pushing very hard as well,
25:36so that we expand the coverage of EPF to as many people as possible.
25:40M. Zul, of course, when we mentioned about the expanding coverage of the informal sector,
25:50of course, we would like to, I can say that EPF is actively expanding access through programs like ISARA and also flexible account structures.
26:01Of course, and the goal is to reduce old Asian vulnerability among segments traditionally left out of a formal social protection.
26:12So, maybe turning into insights into action, of course, from your perspective, what can we expect from platforms like, especially ISWC,
26:28in terms of driving real policy shifts, and also particularly in how we strengthen social protection, expand retirement coverage,
26:37and also in a future proof system for a longer living population?
26:42M. Zul, of course, ISWC is a very important platform for us.
26:46This is our once a year where we bring together thought leaders, policy makers, the media, pension professionals, and so on and so forth,
26:55to come together and to talk about some of the issues that we face.
27:00I think, at the base of it, ISWC is about defining the problem and making sure that everyone understands what the issues that we are facing,
27:09and to define it as simple terms as possible.
27:13So, for example, this year, as the theme suggests, the definition of the problem is that society is aging very fast,
27:22and we need to think about how we deal with a larger proportion of society being elderly.
27:29We are going to have many, many, as the Prime Minister said yesterday, we're going to have thousands,
27:34if not tens of thousands of people living to a hundred in a very short order of time, right?
27:39And systems and infrastructure needs to be able to cater for that.
27:44We also need to have empathy that, when this happens, that there is going to be a class in the middle of working adults that's going to be very present.
27:53Because they have to take care of their parents, they have to take care of their children, they have to take care of their...
27:56It's a sandwich generation.
27:58There's a sandwich generation, and the pressures on that are going to just increase over time.
28:03So, what do we need to do to change in terms of our social security systems, in terms of our healthcare infrastructure, in terms of ability for people to age in place,
28:13for us to deliver healthcare to the home rather than people needing to come to the hospital.
28:19And there's a lot of thought surrounding what policy changes need to be made.
28:23So, at the core of it is about awareness of the issues and what the potential answers are,
28:28so that that stimulates thinking amongst policymakers in particular, and people like us, in terms of what we should be doing for the future.
28:35So, as we look ahead to a future where living to a hundred may be the norm, the real question is what kind of life are we preparing for?
28:48And also, who's responsible?
28:51So, what is EPF's biggest strategic priority in ensuring Malaysians are not just living longer, but also living with dignity, purpose, and security?
29:04And what message will you share with policymakers, and also employers and members of the public on this?
29:13Yeah. So, I think reform is needed. I think that is the key point.
29:19Reform is needed to increase coverage, where we move from 60% coverage in Malaysia today to 70%, to 80%, to 90%, and so on and so forth.
29:28Number two, we have to improve on adequacy.
29:31Adequacy is the measure of, do you have enough to retire?
29:35We've defined what those adequacy levels are. We've linked it very clearly to actual cost of living through the Belanjawan KU study that's done every single year.
29:45And we are building tools and calculators to make it very easy for people to be able to estimate how far am I from the adequate level of savings.
29:55And make it very easy then to make those decisions, okay, if I'm below the adequate level of savings, this is how much I need to top up as well.
30:04Number three is working with the government on schemes like Asaharaan, so that's incentive for people to also do this themselves,
30:13and take the responsibility of saving in addition to what is already mandatory contribution to EPF.
30:21We work a lot with employers today. Thousands of programs are done every single year with employers, especially large, small, and medium-sized employers,
30:31in terms of pushing them to think about their employees' financial well-being as well.
30:37Because employees that have good financial well-being are usually more productive employees.
30:42So there's a whole series of programs that we do, but at the core of it is that we can't sit still.
30:50We must think about reforms. We must think about reforms and how do we improve the advocacy formulations to prepare for retirement.
30:58We have one more minute to wrap our discussion.
31:01So maybe lastly, your hopes towards ISWC this year, because you bring speakers from around the world, experts, researchers, gerontologists, all under one roof.
31:13Maybe your hopes towards ISWC?
31:18It's quite similar from year to year, which is that it is about bringing together people from different experience and expertise that have passion and interest in this field to exchange ideas.
31:33And in particular, for myself and my colleagues and policymakers in Malaysia, it is to constantly think about the reforms that we need to make.
31:44So if there's one word that I'd like people to go away with is, what are the reforms that we should be doing?
31:51Learning from what we've heard over the past, from day one and day two today, what are the reforms that we need to do?
31:58Reform is needed to address the issue.
32:00Of course, a multi-pronged approach. This issue is not just about money itself, but a lot of things need to be considered, especially when Prime Minister mentioned yesterday,
32:11it involved a lot of ministries, agencies in order to make sure we Malaysians live healthier and not just longer, but healthier and we have a dignity, security.
32:26Thank you so much, Mr. Ahmad Zoukarnain On, EPF Chief Executive Officer for your thoughts and ideas throughout the ISWC 2025.
32:37All of this will be available on ASRO Awani and ASRO Awani.com.
32:42And thank you for now. More discussion will I'll bring after this with our economists and also experts.
32:51Thank you for now. Let's take a short break. Come back after this.
32:56Thank you for now.
33:01Thanks again.
33:02Follow us.
33:03Bye-bye.
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