Public Trust Corporation Act 1995 to be amended: Azalina

KUALA LUMPUR: Provisions of the Public Trust Corporation Act 1995 will be amended to make it easier for beneficiaries to make claims in future.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said called for a special committee to be formed by Amanah Raya Bhd (ARB) comprising all stakeholders to study the reforms for the Act.
Noting that the Act has not been amended since it was enacted in 1995, she said ARB is looking at multi-level reforms in the law to mainly expand its scope of legacy management while improving it.
"ARB has made several proposals and I accept all of them but they need to hasten the groundwork so that we can present it to the Cabinet in time for the March Parliament sitting.
"ARB's reforms could further help families in asset distributions," Azalina told a press conference after an official visit to Wisma Amanah Raya here yesterday.
However, she stressed that at the moment, more awareness needs to be created about ARB's legacy services, especially among the non-Bumiputras.
"If you look at the numbers of registered wills, although it increases every year, it is still very low compared to our population.
"I was informed that 80% of those registered are Bumiputras and only 20% are non-Bumiputras," Azalina said.
ARB Group managing director Adenan Md Yusof, in his brief presentation about the corporation, said besides the reform of the Act, ARB is also seeking to establish a one-stop centre for registration of wills, assets and liabilities.
He also requested the government to allow ARB the access to MyIdentity data under the National Registration Department to enable it to locate beneficiaries.
Welcoming the suggestions, Azalina said allowing ARB to access MyIdentity can be done in the nearest possible time to speed up the tracing and locating of beneficiaries.