Yes, spot on.
And it makes me so furious to see this happening to MY money, which I have absolutely no control of.
So, every 3 months, I have been regularly withdrawing my EPF money out to do personal investment by buying funds, just to try and diversify and spread the risk.
Not the perfect solution, but it's better than nothing.

Well, not wanting to be the wet blanket here, but technically speaking, it's not really "instant" access, as in truly instant access.
There's quite a gap between the day you apply for total withdrawal, to the day you actually receive the money.
Processing time could be up to a week or more.
But yeah, understand your point, it's basically still considered fairly liquid funds.

Seriously..?!
That's great!
Seems EPF has really improved their performance and efficiency these days.

Hmmm......indeed, it seems that I am the only one in the dark......haha!
The last time I withdrew for housing was like 12 years ago, and if memory serves, I do not remember it being that fast.
I believe it still took me more than 1 or 2 weeks from the day I submitted the application until the day I received the funds. (No wrong or incomplete information during application, just waiting for fund disbursement)
Maybe it was just my bad luck.
I think it's also a week or more for my withdrawal for unit trust investment......but that could be due to delays in the unit trust company side as well.

Just not my luck, I guess......
My experiences with them were also good, but not as fast as yours.

Good to know!

As I understand, there is only a minimum contribution percentage enforced, no maximum.
Companies are obliged to contribute 12% minimum, but are free to make a higher contribution, as part of their employee benefits.
My previous company gave us 15%.
As an employee, you can also choose to put in whatever amount on top of the 11% you already contribute.
But I suppose the question is: why would you want to do that, especially in recent days when the government is literally squeezing every drop of penny from us citizens?

Yeah, that I agree.
Although, if one really intends to better oneself in terms of financial position, then he/she should really invest some time to learn about investing and then manage one's own money, instead of leaving it to the bloodsucking government to plunder.

Why do you predict the GE to be this September?
Any particular triggers?

I'm curious to know why you would think that?
Well, of course UT companies have to make money for themselves, it's a business after all.
But personally, I have quite a bit of UT as investment, and although not stellar, I think it does alright.
After all, it's just another investment vehicle, so if used wisely, it is actually a good form of diversification.