• 2025-06-23 05:00 PM

SHAH ALAM: The government is targeting 200,000 individuals to be discharged from bankruptcy by the end of this year.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform) Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said said that so far, approximately 186,000 individuals have been successfully released from the problem.

She said the record was obtained by the Malaysian Insolvency Department following the government’s efforts in giving a second chance to the affected group to continue their lives.

“We hope by the end of the year, we can give a calculation (people released from bankruptcy status). So in total we hope to target 200,000 this year,“ she said.

She told reporters after the launch of the Financial Literacy Programme for Public Higher Education Institutions (IPTA) and Private Higher Education Institutions (IPTS) in 2025 by Malaysian Insolvency Department at Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Shah Alam today.

Also present was UiTM vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Shahrin Sahib @ Shabuddin.

When tabling Budget 2025, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar said the Second Chance Policy would be expanded to young people aged 40 and below who have debts not exceeding RM200,000 starting last year.

Meanwhile, Azalina said a total of 25,578 bankruptcy cases were recorded from 2021 to May 2025 from the age of under 25 to 55 and above.

Of that total, she said, 10,145 bankruptcy cases were recorded involving the 35 to 44 age group.

She said that by gender, men recorded higher bankruptcy cases than women, at 18,590 during the same period.

Meanwhile, Azalina said the programme organised today was one of the proactive steps taken by the MADANI government in bringing laws and knowledge related to financial management and literacy to the people, especially students of higher learning institutions who are about to enter the working world.

About 1,000 students from public and private universities and colleges were involved in the one-day programme.