Help early CPF members' kin claim their dues

Before my wife's grandfather died in 2011, he said he had nominated my mother-in-law for Central Provident Fund distribution.

He did so during the early years of the CPF's formation in the 1950s.

After his death, with no notification after three months, she visited a CPF Board office but was told to provide documentation.

She had a death certificate and her identity card, but they could find no record of her father's name.

When I wrote to them, they asked for his old Malaysian identity card number and my mother-in-law's British colonial-era birth certificate. Thankfully, I had scanned these much earlier.

It seems that the CPF Board has no means of tracking and updating nominations made in the 1950s. Nor does it regularly remind members to update their details.

This is surely one of the main causes behind the 1,709 cases of unclaimed CPF monies. The dead giveaway is when there are no known last addresses or when they are of long gone estates such as Tronoh Road.

It is unacceptable if poor record-keeping is affecting dead CPF members' kin's claims.

Shaheedu Pakri

This article was first published on Aug 06, 2015.
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