KUALA LUMPUR, March 4 -- The government does not intend to make it mandatory for Muslim contributors to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to contribute to Syariah savings automatically, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

However, he said that the government highly encourages them to do so through a series of incentives and explanations regarding Syariah financial instruments, which are hoped to increase the number of Muslim contributors in these types of savings.

In fact, he said that the EPF's achievement in announcing a higher dividend rate of 6.30 percent for both conventional and Syariah savings for 2024 was also hoped to encourage Muslims to switch to the latter.

"Therefore, we do not intend to make it mandatory, but w...