Life after 55

Life after 55

* Opinion

2010-10-20 18:57

By TAY TIAN YAN
Translated by DOMINIC LOH

When you meet the French people, do not tell them that Malaysians can enjoy retirement life after 55.

If they were to discover this secret, they would dash into the Elysee Palace out of envy and throw President Nicolas Sarkozy out of office.

Then they will migrate to Malaysia en masse.

Sarkozy recently sent the French irate by insisting to increase the retirement age from 60 to 62 with a purpose of delaying pension payouts as an austerity measure.

Such a move has hit the French hard. The French are known to enjoy life to the fullest and has set enjoyment of life as the ultimate objective of their lives. They work only out of necessity through the transitional period, and if they do work less, they will do it by all means.

Their greatest wish has been early retirement. While they still have the ability to move around, they want to rush to the beaches to soak up the Mediterranean sun, savour the wines and good food or romance around.

By the way, the government will take care of all the needs in life after retirement. Keep the joys to themselves and toss the problems to the government.

A Hungarian migrant, Sarkozy does not seem to understand such the French philosophy of life, but has instead picked up the American capitalist way of doing things, requiring the citizens to share the problems of the government.

The French do not buy Sarkozy's idea, and millions of them take the street and go on strike, plunging nationwide transportation into chaos.

It is harder to get the French to retire late than to build a castle in the air.

The French will be excessively delighted if they can retire at 55, like their Malaysians cousins do.

But wait a minute, Malaysians don't seem to enjoy retirement at 55 (for private sector) or 58 (public sector).

Many will tend to suffer retirement dysfunction syndrome as the clock ticks near the retirement age. Among the symptoms: they will try to evade the reality and pretend to look young, or lose their goals in life and age prematurely.

After retirement, some still pick up their suitcase and head for the office, while others put on their neckties and roam around the malls.

Retirement has been such a painful thing to many a Malaysian, something that the French can never fathom out.

To many middle-age Malaysians, work is their principal objective of life. Their main purpose is to accumulate sufficient cash in order to feel secure before they can talk about material enjoyment.

Moreover, we are only a middle-income third world country which does not provide retirement benefits for the people. The quality of life after our retirement very much depends on ourselves.

Many private companies do not seem to welcome aged workers (although 55 is not that old after all), and the early retirement of senior staff means they can hire cheaper and younger ones in their place, not to mention substantial savings from medical cost.

But such a move may also overlook the knowledge and experiences of senior staff, resulting in early disposal of the society's human resources.

While the French aspire to quit early, Malaysians hope to keep their jobs for as long as possible. This involves not only an attitude towards life, but also social welfare.

Between the French and the Malaysian models, there is actually an eclectic solution, i.e. by allowing the employees to choose what they want, let the capable and needy ones stay where they are while ensuring that the hedonists do not miss their fun after retirement.

Sin Chew Daily
MySinchew 2010.10.20