'Write a will before anything untoward happens'
22/01/2007 NST

RAUB: Make sure you leave a will. That is the only way to stop the increasing amount of unclaimed cash and non-cash assets now estimated at RM40 billion.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the public, especially the Malays, should write a will on the division of their properties before any untoward incident happened to them.

It was reported that more than 90 per cent of Malaysians had not made a will, the majority of them Malays.

"I hope the exposure by the media will encourage the public to write a will," he said when asked to comment on the New Sunday Times’ front-page article yesterday.

He said Amanah Raya Berhad had expertise in the distribution of estates but many were reluctant to refer to the agency for advice.

The article reported that land and property accounted for about RM38 billion of the unclaimed assets while another RM1.5 billion was with the Registrar of Unclaimed Monies and more than RM70 million in the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF).

About a million land titles are also still in the names of dead people while the amount of unclaimed money in the EPF keeps on increasing as many of its contributors did not stipulate a beneficiary.

The money with the Registrar of Unclaimed Monies is from savings accounts and fixed deposits in banks and financial institutions which have not been claimed for years.