KUALA LUMPUR, April 14 (Bernama) — Two new withdrawal facilities, namely Haj Withdrawal and Education Withdrawal, announced today, are parts of the efforts to improve the Armed Forces Fund Board (LTAT) retirement scheme, said board chairman, Gen (Rtd) Tan Sri Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor.
He said the two facilities announced by Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, today, also added value to the well-being of its contributors.
The board was committed to providing the best service to contributors, and supported the government’s aspirations in ensuring their well-being was always a priority, he said.
“The board hopes that both facilities are optimised accordingly to the best advantage, and provide added value in terms of socio-economy, family and spiritual well-being.
“LTAT Haj Withdrawal facility will allow eligible contributors to withdraw part of their retirement savings from the Armed Forces Fund to finance the cost of performing the haj pilgrimage,” he said in a statement today.
Raja Mohamed Affandi said the main terms and conditions for the haj withdrawal include a maximum withdrawal amount of RM10,000, and contributors must have contributed to LTAT for at least 15 years.
“Also, only contributors who have received a haj pilgrimage offer letter from the Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) can withdraw retirement savings for this purpose,” he said.
He said for the Education Withdrawal, eligible contributors are allowed to withdraw part of their retirement savings for reimbursement of the registration fee for Semester 1 of the first year (reimbursement on enrolment fee) for contributors who pursue studies at any local public university.
“This move is an initiative to ease the financial commitment for contributors who want to further their studies to the tertiary level.
“Among the terms and conditions are that contributors are pursuing higher education (Diploma, Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree and Doctor of Philosophy) at a local public university; refund for the first year registration fee (registration fee) only and maximum withdrawal of RM3,200 only,” he said.
According to him, contributors can only make the withdrawal once during the tenure of service and are subject to the available balance in Account 2.
“Effective April 1, LTAT members’ contribution accounts have been divided into Account 1 at 60 per cent and Account 2 at 40 per cent. Application for these two withdrawals can be made starting tomorrow (April 15),” he said.
Earlier today, Hishammuddin announced that LTAT contributors can now withdraw their contributions for the purpose of performing haj and furthering their studies at local public universities, starting tomorrow.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency