It’s a known fact, justified by tens of thousands of signatures from the Malaysian people, who have endorsed that the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) RM1 interbank withdrawal fee has been and continues to be a financial burden to the masses.
This call is apparent through the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) initiatives in launching petitions, both in the union’s website and through Change.org, to urge the government to abolish the said fee.
As this call grows by day, there seems to be a rather opposing will shown by the majority of elected representatives, more importantly cabinet ministers, who have not stepped forward to care for what the people are saying.
Let’s be clear, the objective of the call is based on the fee being disproportionately impacting vulnerable communities and seen as a financial strain on Malaysians, especially those who belong to the B40 and M40 groups. The population size of both these groups amount to 85% of the nation’s population or about 29 million people, according to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
But response has been at a snail’s pace, at least, to be polite.
There has been some 15 Members of Parliament (MP) who have stepped forward to support the cause as they stand by the people and have supported the call that the fee has been a burden for too long.
But, this is a far cry to the 222 elected representatives in Parliament, who seem to have ignored this call.
Nube officials and members of the media, have sent out questions to many MPs pertaining to whether the fee affects the livelihoods of Malaysians, and what should the government do?
The MPs were also asked on the role of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet) which imposes the fee along with 11 local banks, which have earned huge profits and that of the welfare of Malaysians in light of this additional financial burden.
There was even a case where officials for the key cabinet minister been given these questions for comment, but a month later after receiving the questions posed, these officials only rendered previous answers obtained from other lawmakers and declined to answer these necessary questions, without any comment from the said minister.
Something is wrong, when the main focus of the government is not on the people.
The fee needs to be studied?
Deputy Finance Minister Lim Hui Ying said a study should be conducted on the call by the National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) to abolish the RM1 fee for interbank ATM withdrawals.
She recently said she is aware of the “Abolish RM1 campaign” but stressed that a study would be the best option before any decision is made on the matter. She said is also aware that several Members of Parliament had also voiced support for the fee to be abolished, especially in view of the rising cost of living.
NUBE was surprised with the response given by Deputy Finance Minister over its campaign to abolish the RM1 interbank ATM withdrawal fee, and according to NUBE’s deputy president Abdul Jamil Jalaludeen, this issue was raised by NUBE to Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) in October last year as it is crucial to the wellbeing of the lower income groups.
"As NUBE has pointed out, a private company is raking in hundreds of millions of ringgit annually by charging the RM1 fee. The reason this issue is critical at a time when living costs are rising is that the RM1 fee is only making a private company richer at the expense of the rakyat," he said.
Many feel that the outcome of the study will only justify and protect the very institutions which imposes the ATM RM1 interbank fee and the huge profits involved, rather than rationalise its impact on every Malaysians.
The government has spent huge amounts of money to mitigate the rising cost of living, which is commendable, but has turned a deft ear toward an obvious means of elevating some burden for low-income earners.
It has been said many times, across various media platforms, that the cause for the call is that the fee is an unnecessary financial strain and the additional cost can quickly accumulate for those with limited resources.
Let’s break it down further, the ATM RM1 Fee is charged on any cash withdrawal made at an ATM which is owned by a bank that a person does not hold an account in. The person has the choice to withdraw any desired amount from his or her bank account from the person’s bank without any charge up to a point where a set limit has been placed.
These withdrawals are made based on the money a person places or entrusts a bank with, meaning any ATM withdrawal by the person is to take out his or her own money. So, a person opens an account with a local bank, deposits or receives money earned (like salaries), on which the banks makes huge amounts of profits (some in the billions of ringgit) and over above this gets charged for withdrawing the person own money.
Bank Negara Malaysia and PayNet have also declined comment to the questions posed and have argued that the ATM network which it manages needs maintenance and upgrading along with support services annually and that’s the main reason for the fee. This is beside claims made that all money earned via PayNet is ploughed back into its operations.
Consider this, does the network management cost RM544 million annually?
NUBE had revealed in December 2024 that, Payments Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd (PayNet) generated RM544 million in revenue and RM271 million in net profit for 2023 alone, from the RM1 ATM cash withdrawal fee, with critics arguing it burdens the public and runs counter to financial inclusivity efforts.
Well, the rich get richer, while the poor continue to suffer.”
Malaysians today appeal to the wisdom of PM Anwar to do the right thing.
#HapusCajRM1
Social Warrior is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
The User Content (as defined on Newswav Terms of Use) above including the views expressed and media (pictures, videos, citations etc) were submitted & posted by the author. Newswav is solely an aggregation platform that hosts the User Content. If you have any questions about the content, copyright or other issues of the work, please contact Newswav.