ABSTRACT
This chapter presents historical development of the Malaysian social security system. It discusses financial or exclusion issue. During the colonial period, when the British established a dependent capitalist economy based on the export of rubber and tin, new forms of social security were developed alongside these traditional forms. As a consequence, the colonial government introduced a number of pieces of legislation and guidelines of social security. With these, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) was established under the Act of Ordinance Employee Provident Fund 1951 for the primary purpose of providing employees with a measure of social security when they retired. The 1970s can be considered as the New Economic Policy (NEP) era; an era of development as an interdependent capitalist and industrialised country. It was a period of rebuilding both economic and social circumstances. As life expectancy is longer, society will need supplementary financial resources to finance those extra years of life and the increased health care costs.
