KUALA LUMPUR, April 8 — Those who have been declared bankrupts are urged to seek assistance from the Malaysia Department of Insolvency (MdI) to be discharged from their bankruptcy.

She said in a statement here today that statistics showed that those who came to the MdI last year rose by 51 per cent to 39,279 compared with 26,021 individuals in 2012.According to the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri, the MdI still offered a second chance for bankrupts under an existing provision in the Bankruptcy Act 1967.

In addition, the number of bankrupts who paid their debts in monthly instalments had also increased by four per cent to 121,051 in 2013 compared with only 116,939 individuals in 2012.

Nancy also refuted claims by Malaysian Muslim Consumers Association (PPIM) activist Datuk Nadzim Johan in a local newspaper that no efforts or plans were made to assist bankrupts in the country.

She said that the existing legislation was in the process of being amended by taking into account and inserting a second chance policy and a rescue mechanism for the bankruptcy of individuals so that they could be saved.