KUALA LUMPUR – Putrajaya should consider increasing civil servants’ Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributions as part of its proposal to abolish pensions, DAP lawmaker Dr Kelvin Yii told the Dewan Rakyat today.
Yii (Bandar Kuching-PH) suggested this when addressing Malaysia’s looming retirement crisis and ageing population while debating the royal address today.
“I welcome the proposal to abolish pensions (for civil servants) to be replaced by EPF, even though it is bitter to some.
“Perhaps the government could consider increasing civil servants’ EPF by 2%. This can be discussed further, as well as the financial implications (to the government) with EPF compared to the pension system,” Yii said.
The Sarawak lawmaker also said he was “very, very, very worried” about Malaysia’s retirement crisis, given EPF’s statistics that only 4% of citizens can afford to retire comfortably after massive withdrawals of retirement funds during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He noted research that showed 15% of Malaysia’s population will be aged 60 and above in six years’ time, and by 2040, one in five people will be 60 or older.
Yii proposed that the government have stronger policies on care and infrastructure for senior citizens, similar to how childcare centres are mandated in government offices.
He also called on developers to play a greater social role in preparing elder care infrastructure that caters to the lower income groups, as the private sector was actively tapping into the senior care market for the T20 group.
Yii also proposed that Malaysia study Japan’s long-term care insurance system for the elderly, funded by taxes and insurance premiums, to provide services such as home-based care, visiting nurses and sanatoriums for all citizens aged 50 and above.
He said Japanese citizens over the age of 40 can also receive these services if they have an early onset of a geriatric disease, like Alzheimer’s.
Praising Japan’s policies for its seniors, Yii noted that the country even had a minister of loneliness to cater to single-person elderly households. – March 6, 2024